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The  University  of  North  Carolina 


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NORTH  CAROLINIAXA 


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Fonn  No.  471 


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ROCKINGHAM  COUNTY: 

ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL 


A  LABORATORY  STUDY  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,  DEPARTMENT 

OF  RURAL  ECONOMICS  AND 

SOCIOLOGY 


BY  THE 


ROCKINGHAM  COUNTY  CLUB 

L.  H.  Hodges,  President 
W.  E.  Price,  Vice-President  and  Business  Manager 
R.  B.  GwYNN,  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
T.  D.  Stokes,  Editor-in-Chief 


OTHER  MEMBERS : 

E.  F.  DuNCAx  J.  M.  GwYNX  C.  H.  Smith 

Reuben  R.  Ware  Nathax  Womack 


The  expense  of  publication  and  distribution 
is  borne  by  the  advertising  of  ivide-awake  busi- 
ness men,  and  by  the  generous  gifts  of  local 
University  alumni. 


June,  1918 


RALEIGH 

Edwards  &  Bkouohton  Prixtixg  Co. 

1918 


Contents 


PAGE 

Foreword   5 

E.  C.  Branson. 

1.  Historical  Background 7 

T.  D.  Stokks. 

2.  Natural  Resources    14 

T.  D.  Stokes. 

3.  Industries  and  Opportunities IS 

L.  H.  Hodges.  "~ 

4.  Wealth  and  Taxation 24 

R.  B.  GwYx.N. 


5. 


Facts  About  the  Folks 27 

E.  F.  Duncan. 


6.  Farm  Conditions  and  Practices 34 

C.  H.  Smith  and  N.  A.  Womack. 

7.  Home-Raised  Food  and  the  Local  Market  Problem 41 

T.  D.  Stokes. 

8.  Agricultural  Production :  JN'on-Food  Crops 50 

T.  D.  Stokes. 

9.  Our  Public  School  Rank  and  Progress 53 

E.  F.  Duncan. 

10.  Where  We  Lead 59 

T.  D.  Stokes. 

11.  Our  Problems  and  Their  Solution 63 

W.  E.  Price. 

12.  Sources  of  Information 73 


Acknowledgments 


The  Rockingham  County  Club  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
gratefully  acknowledges  its  indebtedness  to  the  Reidsville  Agricultural 
and  Commercial  Association  for  information,  for  many  other  courtesies, 
and  for  direct  aid  in  placing  this  bulletin  in  the  homes  of  Rockingham. 

The  Association  stands  for  an  important  doctrine,  namely:  the  in- 
escapable interdependencies  of  trade  and  agriculture,  the  sympathetic 
federation  of  town  and  country  interests,  and  the  joint  promotion  of 
common  purposes  for  mutual  advantage. 

The  future  prosperity  of  Rockingham  and  every  other  county  depends 
upon  county-wide  organization  and  cooperation  based  on  mutual  fair 
dealing.  Suspicion,  contest,  and  collision  hurt  everything,  every  busi- 
ness, and  everybody  in  a  county.  They  are  destructive  to  progress  and 
prosperity  everywhere. 

Such  are  the  common  ideals  of  the  Rockingham  Board  of  Trade  in 
Reidsville  and  the  North  Carolina  Club  at  the  University. 

W.  E.  Price, 
Vice-President  and  Business  Manager  of 
the  Rockingham  County  Club. 


Foreword 

Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social  is  the  work  of  the  Rock- 
ingham County  Club,  in  the  headquarters  of  the  North  Carolina  Club  at 
the  University,  during  the  chance  intervals  of  a  busy  college  year. 

It  has  been  good  for  these  young  men  to  explore  the  problems  of  life 
and  business,  progress  and  prosperity  in  their  home  county,  to  hunt 
down  the  conditions  and  causes  that  cripple  and  disable  her  civilization, 
and  to  puzzle  at  the  ways  and  means  of  lifting  her  to  the  very  highest 
levels  of  noble  achievement.  It  has  been  a  self-educative  preparation 
for  competent  citizenship  and  intelligent  public  service. 

They  have  come  to  believe  that  it  is  a  shame  for  any  Rockingham 
County  citizen  to  be  ignorant  about  Rockingham  County,  no  matter  how- 
much  he  may  know  about  Greece  and  Rome. 

I  strongly  entertain  the  same  belief,  and  I  therefore  suggest  that  this 
bulletin  be  used  as  a  text-book  by  the  seniors  in  the  high  schools  of  the 
county  and  by  the  public  school  teachers  in  their  professional  studies; 
and  that  it  be  thumbed  thoroughly  by  the  preachers  as  well  as  by  the 
farmers,  merchants,  bankers,  and  manufacturers  of  the  county.  All  of 
them  will  find  it  full  of  food  for  reflection. 

The  study  of  Rockingham  County  by  Rockingham  boys  at  the  Uni- 
versity is  well  worth  while,  but  the  study  of  Rockingham  County  by 
Rockingham  people  in  Rockingham  is  even  better;  and  it  is  the  next 
step  forward  in  the  developing  democracy  of  Rockingham.  The  people 
who  have  a  genuine,  generous  interest  in  the  welfare  and  well-being  of 
their  home  county  could  do  no  better  thing  than  to  bunch  up  in  Rock- 
ingham for  studies  of  this  sort.  Local  Study  Clubs:  Essays  at  Citizen- 
ship is  a  new  University  bulletin  that  shows  them  how  to  do  it.  It  can 
be  had  free  of  charge  upon  application  to  the  Extension  Bureau  here. 

It  may  be  important  for  the  big  outside  world  to  know  about  the 
resources  and  advantages  of  Rockingham;  about  the  opportunities  she 
offers  to  capitalists  seeking  profitable  investments  in  producing  enter- 
prises, and  the  bargains  she  has  for  western  farmers  in  her  soil  and 
seasons,  good  roads,  and  excellent  schools.  But  it  is  far  more  important 
for  Rockingham  people  to  have  an  intelligent  grip  upon  their  own 
problems  of  life  and  business. 

The  future  of  the  county  depends  upon  native  intelligence,  native 
genius,  and  devoted  home-bred  leadership  far  more  than  it  does  upon  im- 
ported capital  however  large,  or  imported  men  however  enterprising 
and  generous. 

Democracy  develops  from  within.  It  cannot  be  laid  on  from  without, 
dropped  down  as  manna  from  above,  or  imported  as  a  blessing  from 


6  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

abroad.  It  must  be  the  free  outward  evidencing  of  inner  grace  and  grit. 
Every  community  rises,  if  it  rise  at  all,  by  heroic  tugging  at  its  own 
boot-straps. 

This  is  our  American  ideal  of  Democracy;  and  it  must  be  the  ideal  of 
Rockingham  and  of  every  other  county  and  community  in  the  United 
States. 

E.  C.  Braxsox, 
Department  of  Rural  Economics  and  Sociology, 
University  of  North  Carolina 
Chapel  Hill,  June  1,  1918. 


The  Historical  Background  of  Rockingham 

T.  D.  Stokks,  Ruffin.  N.  C. 

Location  ami  Name  and  roi>"l»t><»" 

Rockingham  County  was  formed  in  1785  from  Guilford.  It  was  named 
in  honor  of  Charles  Watson  Wentworth.  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  who 
was  leader  of  the  party  in  the  British  Parliament  that  advocated  Ameri- 
can independence.  He  was  Prime  Minister  of  England  when  the  Stamp 
Act  was  repealed.  He  was  also  a  distinguished  friend  of  America  in 
the  English  Parliament,  and  acted  in  concert  with  William  Pitt,  Earl  . 
of  Chatham,  in  opposition  to  Lord  North. 

Wentworth,  the  county-seat,  is  116  miles  northwest  of  Raleigh,  and  is 
located  very  near  the  center  of  the  county.  It  is  built  upon  a  high 
ridge  that  commands  a  beautiful  view  of  the  whole  country  for  miles 
around  The  court-house  is  a  very  handsome  building,  being  one  of  the 
best  in  the  State.     It  is  an  ornament  to  the  town  and  an  honor  to  the 

'"'^Before  the  Revolutionary  War  there  were  no  townships  in  the  county, 
and  the  only  division  was  into  "captain  districts."  After  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  1868  the  county  was  divided  into  seven  townships. 
Subsequent  divisions  give  eleven  townships  in  all  at  present.  The 
township  in  which  the  court-house  is  situated  was  called  Wentworth  m 

honor  of  the  county  seat.  Tf  •    a 

Rockingham  is  located  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State.  It  is  a 
north-central  piedmont  county  and  lies  along  the  Virginia  line.  Rock- 
ingham is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Virginia,  east  by  Caswell,  south  by 
Guilford,  and  west  by  Stokes. 

The  population  of  Rockingham  County  was  36.442  in  1910.  Today 
it  is  around  45.000.  The  people  are  chiefly  native-born,  and  about 
a  fourth  are  negroes.  The  whites  are  principally  of  English  and 
Irish  descent,  "who  learned  the  lesson  of  liberty  at  the  feet  of  the 
prophets  of  the  American  Revolution  that  brought  down  the  tables  of 
the  commandments  of  freedom  from  the  smoking  Sinais  of  that  strug- 
gle- whose  statesmen  and  orators  have  added  to  the  parliamentary  and 
forensic  glory  of  the  Nation;  whose  sons,  falling  in  the  defense  of 
libertv  lie  mouldering  upon  every  battlefield  of  our  Nation's  glory; 
whose  sons  are  brave  and  true;  and  whose  women,  fair  as  the  dames  of 
Caucasus,  are  as  virtuous  as  they  are  fair." 

"All  the  physical  features  and  attributes  of  Rockingham  are  in  har- 
mony with  the  rare  felicity  of  its  geographical  situation.     The  climate 


8  Rockinghatii  County :  Economic  and  Social 

is  mild  and  genial,  the  rigor  of  its  winters  and  the  heat  of  its  summers 
being  tempered  by  the  sheltering  barriers  of  forests  and  mountains,  and 
by  the  soft  breezes  from  the  sea.  Its  soil  is  fertile  and  wondrously 
varied  in  the  range  of  its  capabilities.  Its  majestic  hills  and  smiling 
valleys  unroll  to  the  eye  like  a  panorama  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  and 
laugh  into  the  harvest  of  plenty  beneath  the  mystic  touch  of  nature  and 
men.  From  the  bosom  of  its  hills  come  the  sunny  streams  which  irrigate 
the  landscapes  and  form  by  their  union  the  majestic  rivers  whose  rush- 
ing waters  keep  music  with  roaring  wheels  and  humming  spindles." 

The  charms  of  Rockingham  are  thus  preserved  by  Wheeler  in  his 
Sketches  of  North  Carolina. 

County  Builders 

1.  Hon.  Thomas  Settle,  Senior  (born  1791;  died  1857),  was  born  in 
this  county.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  ability  as  a  statesman  and 
as  a  judge,  and  for  his  virtues,  learning,  and  deportment,  in  every  walk 
of  life.  He  entered  public  life  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
from  Rockingham  in  1816,  and  in  1817  succeeded  Bartlett  Yancey  as 
Representative  in  the  Fifteenth  Congress.  He  was  reelected  to  the  Six- 
teenth Congress,  but  declined  reelection.  He  was  succeeded  by  Romulus 
M.  Saunders.  In  1826,  Judge  Settle  had  again  returned  to  the  State  Leg- 
islature, and  was  reelected  in  1827-'28.  During  the  latter  years  he  was 
Speaker  of  the  House.  His  course  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  was 
marked  by  patriotism,  consistency,  and  dignity.  When  the  fiery  cru- 
sades of  party  were  directed  by  the  energy  of  Robert  Parker  against  the 
banking  institutions  of  the  State  and  the  bill  was  carried,  by  one  vote, 
to  prosecute  and  crush  the  banks.  Judge  Settle  as  Speaker  voted  with 
the  minority  and  prevented  its  passage. 

In  1832  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
elevated  position  he  held,  for  nearly  e  quarter  of  a  century,  with  great 
satisfaction  to  the  country  and  credit  to  himself.  Increasing  years 
caused  his  resignation.  His  health  from  the  labor  of  a  long  life  failed 
and,  unusually  lamented,  he  died  in  August,  1857. 

We  give  a  correct  genealogy  of  this  family  because  it  is  seldom  that 
a  family  less  numerous  can  show  more  distinguished  members.  The 
Settles  furnish  two  senators  and  four  representatives  in  Congress, 
three  judges,  a  Governor,  and  a  formidable  aspirant  for  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States,  besides  others  of  the  name  distinguished  for  their 
ability  and  integrity. 

2.  Thomas  Settle,  Junior,  son  of  the  above,  whose  sketch  has  just  been 
presented,  was  born  January  23,  1831.  He  was  liberally  educated  at  the 
State  University  and  was  graduated  in  1850.  Later  he  read  law  with 
Judge  Pearson,  and  was  licensed  to  practice  in  1854.     He  was  elected 


Historical  BackgroaiKl  9 

member  of  the  Legislature  from  1854  to  1859.  The  latter  year  he  was 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House.  He  was  one  of  the  federal  electors  in 
1856,  and  cast  with  others  the  vote  of  the  State  for  Mr.  Buchanan. 

In  1860  he  advocated  the  claims  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the  Presi- 
dency. How  far  personal  influences  or  preferences  influenced  his  judg- 
ment (for  they  were  closely  connected  by  marriage)  is  not  known,  but 
doubtless  the  matchless  genius  and  brilliant  eloquence  of  this  distin- 
guished statesman  greatly  moved  his  supporters. 

He  was  elected  in  1865  a  member  of  the  State  Convention,  held  in 
Raleigh,  October  15,  1865,  and  in  the  same  year  he  became  a  senator  in 
the  State  Legislature,  of  which  body  he  was  chosen  speaker.  It  is  rare 
that  the  speakership  of  both  bodies  of  our  Legislature  is  conferred  upon 
so  youthful  a  public  man.  He  took  an  active  and  prominent  part  in 
the  Convention  in  devising  means  to  reconstruct  the  broken-down  walls 
of  our  political  zone.  In  April,  1868,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  This  elevated  position  he  held  until 
1871,  when,  on  February  18th  of  that  year,  he  was  commissioned  Envoy 
Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Peru.  He  was  also 
president  of  the  National  Convention  that  nominated  Grant.  In  1872 
he  was  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  Fifth  Congres- 
sional District,  opposing  General  James  M.  Leach.  General  Leach  was 
elected  by  268  majority. 

He  was  reappointed  one  of  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State,  which  position  he  held  until  he  was  nominated  as  the 
Republican  candidate  for  the  governorship  in  1876,  and  was  defeated  by 
Governor  Vance  by  more  than  13,000  votes.  He  was  later  appointed 
judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  Northern  District  of 
Florida,  January  30,  1877. 

3.  Josiah  and  John  Settle  were  brothers  who  came  from  England. 
John  Settle  located  in  Virginia.  Josiah  Settle  located  in  Rockingham 
County.  He  was  the  father  of  David  Settle,  who  married  Rhoda  Mul- 
lins.  Tbeir  son  Thomas  was  born  1789.  Josiah  Settle  entered  public 
life  as  a  member  of  the  State  House  of  Commons  in  1816  and  1817,  and 
in  1819  he  was  elected  Member  of  Congress.  He  declined  reelection. 
Appeared  again  in  public  life  in  1826  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  reelected  in  1827-'28.  The  last 
year  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House.  In  1832  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court. 

4.  His  son  Thomas  was  born  in  1831.  He  was  elected  to  the  Legisla- 
ture in  1854-'55-'56,  and  during  the  last  two  years  was  Speaker  of  the 
House;  was  elected  to  the  Senate  and  made  President  of  the  body  in 
1865-'66;  was  elected  Solicitor  of  the  Fourth  Judicial  Circuit  in  1859, 
and  held  this  position  for  nine  years,  with  the  exception  of  one  year 


10  Rockingham  County :  Economic  and  Social 

when  he  was  in  the  Confederate  Army;  was  elected  as  a  Superior  Court 
Judge  and  then  as  an  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North 
Carolina  in  1868. 

5.  David  Settle  Reid  was  a  native  of  Rockingham,  the  son  of  Reuben 
Reid.  He  was  born  April  13,  1813.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of 
the  county  and  studied  law.  But  he  was  more  distinguished  as  a  faith- 
ful and  frank  statesman  than  as  a  lawyer.  Bold  and  intrepid,  he  often 
led  where  the  timid  hesitated,  and  when  success  had  followed  his  efforts 
the  sagacity  and  justice  of  his  policies  were  generally  conceded. 

His  first  appearance  in  public  life  was  in  1835,  as  a  senator  from 
Rockingham  County.  Such  was  the  wisdom  of  his  course  that  he  was 
continuously  reelected  by  the  people  until  1840.  He  was  then  elected 
to  the  Twenty-eighth  and  Twenty-ninth  Congresses.  In  1848  he  was 
nominated  for  Governor  by  the  Democratic  State  Convention,  with- 
out his  knowledge  or  consent.  Defeat  seemed  to  be  a  certain  prospect 
for  the  Democrats.  The  Whigs  had  triumphed  and  were  jubilant  over 
victories  won  on  a  hundred  fields.  The  opposition  was  well  organized, 
and  their  leader.  Charles  Manly,  was  able,  genial,  and  popular. 

But  Mr.  Reid  felt  it  his  duty  to  attempt  what  his  friends  felt  certain 
that  he  could  accomplish.  He  made  a  gallant  canvass,  and  so  greatly 
reduced  the  Whig  majority  that  their  leaders  felt  and  knew  that  such 
another  victory  would  ruin  them.  At  the  next  convention,  although  he 
had  written  that  under  no  circumstances  could  he  again  be  a  candidate, 
he  was  nominated  and  elected  Governor  of  the  State.  The  great  issue 
urged  upon  the  people  of  the  State  by  Mr.  Reid  in  the  party  campaign  of 
1851  was  free  manhood  suffrage.  His  election  to  the  governorship 
ended  Whig  supremacy  in  the  State.  He  served  two  years  as  Governor, 
and  in  1854  he  became  Senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  until  1859. 

Governor  Reid  was  keenly  alive  to  the  great  trouble  then  approaching. 
He  had  been  long  in  Congress,  and  was  most  observant  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Nation.  He  felt  that  the  ship  of  state,  built  by  our  fathers  and 
freighted  with  all  our  hopes  and  happiness,  was  drifting  on  a  lee-shore 
and  in  peril.  He  would  have  had  this  bitter  cup  pass  from  him,  and 
with  this  hope  he  was  a  delegate  with  the  sage  and  wise  of  our  country 
to  the  Peace  Congress  at  Washington  in  the  year  1861.  But  its  efforts 
were  futile.  The  storm  had  arisen,  and  no  human  power  could  avert 
its  fury.  Governor  Reid  viewed  with  calm  philosophy  and  sad  resigna- 
tion the  events  of  the  Civil  War  period,  and,  though  denied  by  age  the 
privilege  of  going  to  the  field,  he  contributed  wisdom  to  the  counsels  of 
the  Confederate  Congress. 

Few  men  have  enjoyed  more  fully  the  respect  and  affection  of  the 
people   of  the   State  than  Governor  Reid   for  unaffected   simplicity   of 


Ilistdricd!    I'dcL-f/niiiiiil  11 

character,    stern    integrity,    and    unsullied    purity    of    life.     I^he    most 
prominent  trait  in  the  character  of  Governor  Reid  was  the  consistency 
and   uniformity  of  his  political  career.     Cautious   and   circumspect   in 
forming  his  opinions,  when  once  formed,  his  firmness  and  ability   in 
maintaining  them  were  heroic.     No  one  who  knew  him.  or  who  observed 
his  long,  successful,  and  brilliant  career,  could  ever  doubt  where  to  find 
him.     He  was  the  unwavering  supporter  of  popular  rights  and  demo- 
.  cratic  principles. 
^/^.^^■-ffrTohn  Henry  Dillard  was  one  of  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  from  Rockingham.     He  was  born  near  Leaksville  in  1825. 
He  was  a  student  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  after  com- 
pleting his  sophomore  year  went  to  William  and  Mary  College,  Virginia, 
where  he  was  graduated  with  high  distinction.    He  was  admitted  to 
practice  law   in  North  Carolina  at  the  age  of  twenty-one;    moved   to 
Patrick    County.    Virginia,    and   was    elected    commonwealth    attorney, 
which  office  he  filled  with  high  credit  to  himself  for  several  years.     He 
married  Anne  J.,  daughter  of  the  late  Colonel  Martin  of  Henry  County, 
Virginia.     After  a  few  years  he  returned  to  Rockingham  County  and 
devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  with  great  diligence 
and    success.     He    was    elected    county    attorney    of    Rockingham    and 
served  in  that  capacity  for  many  years.     He  was  always  noted  for  the 
accuracy  with  which  his  bills  of  indictment  were  framed;  so  much  that 
his  "forms"  passed  into  the  hands  of  other  prosecuting  attorneys,  and 
have   been   used   by   them   with   unvarying   success.     Having   been    ap- 
pointed Clerk  and  Master  in  Equity,  he  became  at  an  early  age  devoted 
to    equity    jurisprudence,    in    the    practice    of    which    he    became    pre- 
eminently distinguished. 

He  removed  from  Rockingham  County  to  Greensboro  in  1868  and  asso- 
ciated himself  in  the  practice  of  law  with  Col.  Thomas  Ruflfin  of  Orange, 
then  a  resident  of  Greensboro,  and  Col.  John  A.  Gilmer  of  Greensboro, 
the  style  of  the  firm  being  Dillard,  RufRn  &  Gilmer. 

Mr.  Dillard  was  a  man  of  imposing  personal  appearance,  great  sim- 
plicity and  geniality  of  manner,  and  remarkable  courtesy,  especially  to 
the  younger  members  of  the  bar.  who  always  received  from  him  the 
heartiest  sympathy  and  encouragement,  and  who  entertained  for  him 
a  respect  and  admiration  amounting  often  to  the  warmest  affection. 
He  was  always  decided  in  his  political  views  and  a  faithful  member  of 
the  Democratic  party,  though  never  a  partisan  or  aspirant  for  political 
preferment. 

Judge  Dillard  was  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Greensboro, 
and  a  gentleman  of  unimpeachable  character  and  incorruptible  integ- 
rity, devoted  to  the  institutions  of  the  State,  and  ardently  attached  to 
every  enterprise  that  tended  to  the  moral  and  material  growth  and 
prosperity  of  North  Carolina. 


1'2  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

7.  Ham.ilton  Henderson  Chalmers,  born  in  Rockingham  County.  Octo- 
ber 15,  1835,  was  one  of  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Mississippi.  Judge  Chalmers  was  graduated  by  the  University  of 
Mississippi  in  1853,  read  law  at  Jackson  in  the  law  ofl&ce  of  his  relative, 
Hon.  0.  C.  Glenn,  then  Attorney-General  of  the  State  and  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  orators  of  the  State.  He  resided  for  a  short  time  in  New- 
Orleans,  where  he  studied  the  civil  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
He  was  an  ardent  participant  in  the  politics  of  the  period,  and  though 
seeking  no  office  became  a  prominent  leader  in  the  Democratic  party  of 
the  State.  Upon  the  accession  of  the  Democratic  party  to  the  control 
of  the  State  in  1875,  he  was  preferred  by  the  almost  unanimous  wish  of 
the  bar  of  his  section,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Supreme  Court  bench 
of  the  State  at  the  early  age  of  forty. 


^n 


Another  Distinguished  Son 

8.  Daniel  M.  Courts  was  born  November  26,  1820,  in  Rockingham 
County.  He  was  graduated  in  law  by  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
in  1823.  In  1836  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  State,  and  was  re- 
elected in  1838  by  a  Legislature  differing  from  him  in  politics.  In  1839, 
he  was  appointed  consul  of  the  United  States  at  Matansas,  which  he 
accepted.  He  repaired  to  his  post,  but  resigned  in  a  short  time.  He 
removed  to  Rockingham  and,  in  1846,  was  elected  from  this  county  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  again  in  1848.  In  1850  he  was  elected, 
without  opposition.  State  Senator  from  Rockingham,  and  at  the  session 
of  1850-'51  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  State. 

Our  Contribution  to  the  State  and  the  >'ation 

Rockingham  County  has  furnished  four  Councilors  of  State:  Thomas 
Henderson,  Sterling  Ruffin,  Peter  H.  Dillard,  and  James  Watt,  who 
were  elected  by  the  Assemblies  of  1795,  1816,  1834-'35,  1836-'37,  and 
1842-'43,  in  the  order  named. 

Rockingham  has  furnished  only  one  Secretary  of  State — William  Hill, 
who  served  for  forty-eight  years,  from  1811  to  1859.  William  Hill  held 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  longer  than  any  person  before  or  after 
him. 

The  county  has  also  furnished  four  Superior  Court  judges:  Thomas 
Settle,  who  served  from  1832  to  1857.  a  period  of  fifteen  years;  Thomas 
Ruffin,  from  1861  to  1862;  W.  H.  Mebane,  from  1894  to  1895;  and  Henry 
P.  Lane,  from  1910  to  the  present  day.  Judge  Lane  is  the  youngest 
man  ever  elected  Superior  Court  judge  in  North  Carolina. 

Rockingham  has  produced  two  speakers  of  the  State  Senate,  Alexan- 
der Martin  and  Thomas  Settle,  who  were  elected  by  the  Assemblies  of 


Historical  Background  13 

1805  and  lS65-'66;  and  two  Speakers  of  the  House,  Thomas  Settle  and 
John  R.  Webster,  who  were  elected  by  the  Assemblies  of  1828  and  1887. 
Last  and  most  important  of  all,  she  has  given  to  the  State  four  Gk)v- 
ernors,  Alexander  Martin,  1782-'85;  D.  S.  Reid,  who  served  for  two  terms, 
1851-'54;  A.  M.  Scales,  who  served  for  two  terms,  1885-'89;  and  R.  B. 
Glenn,  who  served  for  two  terms.  1905-'09.  David  Settle  Reid  was  the 
first  Democratic  Governor  elected  by  the  people  of  North  Carolina. 


The  Natural  Resources  of  Rockingham 

T.  D.  Stokes,  Ruffin,  N.  C. 

Geography 

Rockingham  is  a  north-central  piedmont  county  and  lies  along  the 
Virginia  line.  It  is  on  the  extreme  eastern  border  of  the  western  pied- 
mont region.  The  area  of  Rockingham  county  is  366,720  acres.  Its 
topography  on  the  whole  is  fairly  level,  although  hills  of  medium  size 
are  found  in  the  northwestern  portion.  The  Meadows  is  a  stretch  of 
gently  rolling  country  lying  north  of  Dan  River. 

The  county  is  drained  by  the  Dan  River,  flowing  northwest,  and  Haw 
River,  flowing  east  through  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  county.  On 
both  streams  and  their  tributaries  we  find  a  large  number  of  cotton 
mills,  most  of  which  are  located  at  and  near  Spray.  Grist  mills  also 
occur,  scattered  through  the  county  on  the  streams.  Several  such 
water-power  grist  mills  have  sawmill  attachments  for  doing  custom 
sawing.  Big  Troublesome  Creek,  a  tributary  of  Haw  River,  furnishes 
the  town  of  Reidsville  with  its  water  supply. 

Our  transportation  facilities  are  fairly  good.  The  main  line  of  the 
Southern  Railway  runs  through  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  passing 
through  Reidsville;  and  a  branch  of  the  Southern  comes  up  from 
Greensboro  to  Madison  in  the  western  portion.  The  Norfolk  and  West- 
ern and  the  Danville  and  Western  railways  traverse  the  northern 
district. 

Wentworth,  the  county  seat,  is  six  miles  from  the  nearest  railway 
station.  The  main  wagon  roads  are  good.  Our  rank  in  this  particular 
in  1914  was  eighth.  An  improved  road  goes  from  Reidsville  through 
Wentworth  to  Leaksville,  and  from  Wentworth  to  Madison.  It  is 
macadam  and  sand-clay  and  is  in  good  condition.  The  unimproved 
roads  are  for  the  most  part  rough  and  steep,  and  offer  an  instructive 
contrast  to  the  improved  highways  of  the  county.  The  most  important 
roads  are  worked  by  county  convict  labor. 

Soils  and  Seasons 

Tlie  soils  of  the  uplands  are  mostly  of  a  light,  gray,  sandy  loam, 
admirably  adapted  to  the  raising  of  fine  yellow  tobacco,  and  this  fact 
has  made  Rockingham  noted  among  the  bright-leaf  counties  of  the 
Southern  tobacco  belt.  In  some  sections  of  the  county  the  soil  is  red 
or  a  dark-gray  loam,  and  produces  heavy  crops  of  wheat  and  other 
grains.     In  fact,  all  the  soils  of  the  county  are  suited  to  tfie  production 


Natural  Resources  l'> 

of  wheat,  oats,  rye,  corn,  and  other  grains.     They  can  all  be  laid  down 
in  permanent  pastures  when  desired. 

But  devotion  to  the  single-crop  system  has  sadly  impeded  the  agricul- 
tural development  of  the  county.  Rockingham  offers  great  opportuni- 
ties for  dairy  farming  and  beef  production.  The  typical  white  lands, 
usually  put  in  tobacco,  produce  large  yields  of  crimson  clover,  soy 
beans,  and  other  legumes. 

The  soils  of  the  county  may  be  divided,  further,  into  cecil  clay,  cecil 
loam,  and  cecil  sandy  loam,  which  give  to  Rockingham  a  wonderful 
variety  of  the  most  productive  grain  and  grass  soils  in  the  entire  pied- 
mont section.  These  cecil  soils  may  be  depended  upon  to  produce  corn, 
wheat,  oats,  rye,  millet,  herdsgrass.  Bermuda,  cowpeas.  soy  beans,  and 
other  cover  crops  in  lavish  abundance,  under  skillful  farming. 

Both  Irish  and  sweet  potatoes  can  be  grown  with  advantage,  and  this 
is  especially  true  of  sweet  potatoes  in  sandy  loams.  The  deep  clay  land 
is  an  inviting  field  for  apple  farming,  and  there  are  many  old  orchards 
in  the  county.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  grow  apples  on  a  com- 
mercial scale  because  our  farmers  are  mainly  absorbed  in  tobacco  cul- 
ture. The  tobacco  soils  found  in  the  Rockingham  belt  are  pronounced 
to  be  among  the  finest  in  the  world;  but  it  is  a  hazardous  crop,  even  to 
those  who  have  been  born  and  bred  to  the  work,  and  is  not  recom- 
mended to  the  home-seeker. 

The  State  Department  of  Agriculture  in  an  official  publication  de- 
clares that  the  piedmont  region  of  North  Carolina  is  surpassed  by  no 
area  in  the  South  for  corn,  wheat,  and  clover  production,  and  for  live- 
stock farming.  Rockingham  is  in  this  area,  and  has  the  distinct  advan- 
tage of  quick  railway  transportation  to  Northern  market  centers.  The 
future  of  Rockingham  depends  not  on  tobacco  culture,  but  on  livestock 
farming,  on  the  production  of  meat  and  dairy  products. 

The  climate  of  Rockingham  County  is  temperate.  It  is  free  from 
excessive  heat  or  cold.  The  spring  and  fall  are  ideal.  The  summer 
days  are  comparatively  warm,  but  the  nights  are  pleasant.  The  win- 
ters are  short  and  mild.  On  the  average,  there  are  about  three  snow- 
falls a  year.  The  rainfall  is  ample  and  well  distributed  throughout  the 
year.  Droughts  seldom  occur,  and  damage  to  crops  is  rarely  suffered 
except  on  the  poorer  soils  of  the  slate  belt. 

A  Land  of  Larf?e  Farm  Owners 

Practically  all  the  land  is  held  in  large  farms  by  resident  owners. 
The  antebellum  type  of  planters  is  still  found  in  large  numbers  in 
Rockingham  County.  In  the  early  days  most  of  the  immigrants  who 
came  to  Rockingham  were  slave-holders,  and  this  accounts  for  the  large 
number  of  big  farms  at  the  present  time.  ^The  early  settlers  owned  a 
great  many  slaves,  and   hence  they  could  cultivate  large  plantations. 


16  Bockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

But  the  inevitable  multiplication  of  small  farms  by  the  tenancy  system 
of  tobacco  culture  is  in  operation  in  Rockingham. 

Classified  according  to  size,  938,  or  nearly  one-third,  of  the  farms  are 
less  than  fifty  acres  in  size.  There  are  843  farms  between  50  and  100 
acres  in  size;  but  there  are  1.2'74  farms  between  100  and  500  acres  in 
size,  and  29  having  between  500  and  1,000  or  more  acres  each.  It  is 
thus  seen  that  the  typical  Rockingham  farmer  is  the  large  farmer,  and 
it  is  he  on  whom  rests  the  hope  of  future  agricultural  development  and 
country  culture  in  the  county.  The  soil,  therefore,  is  the  greatest  natu- 
ral asset  of  the  county. 

Timber  Resources 

Approximately  51  per  cent  of  Rockingham  is  woodedi  area.  The 
original  forest  of  hardwood  and  pine,  amounting  to  about  14  per  cent  of 
the  whole,  occurs  in  small  quantities  here  and  there  throughout  the 
county.  In  this  type  of  hardwoods,  the  principal  ones — oak,  hickory, 
black-gum,  and  maple — all  occur  in  commercial  quantities;  the  several 
other  species  are  of  minor  importance.  The  original  forest  pine  attains 
a  size  of  80  to  120  feet  in  height  and  two  to  four  feet  in  diameter. 

The  total  stand  of  timber  in  the  county  is  estimated  at  nearly  90,- 
000,000  feet  board  measure,  or  about  465  feet  per  acre,  for  all  the  forest 
land.  The  different  species  occur  in  about  the  following  proportions: 
swamp  growth  pine  43  per  cent,  only  one-seventh  of  which  is  short  leaf, 
forest  pine  7  per  cent,  and  hickory  3  per  cent. 

Logging  is  carried  on  in  small  ways  only.  The  largest  mills  do  not 
exceed  an  average  output  of  700,000  feet  per  year,  while  the  average 
annual  cut  of  the  nearly  forty  mills  is  a  little  over  200,000  feet.  The 
total  annual  cut  for  the  county  is  a  little  more  than  eight  or  nine  mil- 
lion feet. 

Our  hardwood  areas  should  be  managed  so  as  to  produce  a  large  pro- 
portion of  oak  and  poplar.  Both  these  species  are  vigorous  trees  in  this 
region,  and  both  make  desirable  and  valuable  lumber.  The  reproduc- 
tion of  oaks  can  be  secured  from  sprouts  where  the  trees  are  not  of  a 
very  large  size;  but  in  order  to  secure  poplar,  trees  of  this  species  should 
be  left  on  the  cut-over  area.  Inferior  trees  of  that  species  should  be 
taken  off  the  ground  to  secure  a  desirable  second  crop.  If  near  a  town, 
the  market  for  cordwood  usually  makes  this  financially  possible.  The 
selection  system,  using  a  low  diameter  limit  for  the  inferior  species, 
will  tend  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  forest.  Large  openings  in  the 
crown  cover  must  be  prepared  for  the  reproduction  of  pine. 

Forty  and  sixty  years  ago  destructive  forest  fires  swept  across  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  county,  and  the  signs  can  still  be  seen.  Such 
intense  fires  have  not  occurred,  however  for  a  long  time,  though  small 
surface  fires  are  occasionally  set  by  sparks  from  locomotives  on  the 
railroads. 


17 

.\itiiiral   llt'soinres 


Dairy  Farinint; 

The  rertile  Lar.n  lands  around  Heidsville  and  throughout  Rockingham 

°\:  'mi"' vTJn^r  North   Carolina,   and    si.    other    Southern    States 

„     ,h    «6^000?00  worth  or  butter  anil  cheese  Iron,  points  north  ot  the 
hought  165^000,000  wort  ^^  _^_^_^^  ^^^._^  ^^_,_^^.__^  ^_,^  ^^^p 

?h '"ntlJCm  g:inrout  ot  ihe  Stated    Here  is  a  great  opportun.ty 

for  enterprising  farmers  in  Rockingham. 


Industries  and  Opportunities 

L.  H.  HoDGKS,  Leaksville,  N.  C. 

Our  people  proudly  call  Rockingham  the  Gem  of  the  Piedmont.  And, 
indeed,  in  many  particulars  our  county  is  one  of  the  most  advanced 
counties  in  the  two  Carolinas.  She  is  especially  famous  for  her  tobacco 
factories,  cotton  mills,  and  various  other  industries. 

We  find  that  North  Carolina  has  more  cotton  mills  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Union,  and  Rockingham  is  one  of  the  leading  cotton  mill 
counties  of  the  State.  Few  people  have  any  idea,  or  at  least  any  com- 
prehensive idea,  of  the  size  and  importance  of  our  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments. In  1915  there  were  73  industrial  enterprises  in  Rockingham 
with  a  total  capital  of  $37,659,500  and  11,508  operatives.  The  yearly 
output  was  $169,913,885.  (Since  that  date  the  value  of  our  mill  and 
factory  products  has  nearly  doubled.)  These  73  industries  are  classified 
into  cotton  and  woolen  mills,  tobacco  factories,  buggy  and  wagon 
factories,  job  printeries,  roofing,  ice,  and  brick  plants,  and  numerous 
others  too  varied  for  classification.  These  are  the  figures  obtained  from 
local  authorities. 

We  have  all  the  requirements  necessary  for  successful  industries — 
good  climate,  excellent  water  power,  abundant  labor,  ready  capital,  raw 
materials,  and  ample  transportation  facilities. 

Climate 

Our  climate  is  typical  of  the  middle  Atlantic  Piedmont  region.  It  is 
free  from  extremes  of  both  summer  heat  and  winter  cold.  It  is  a  com- 
fortable area  for  industrial  workers,  and  very  few  of  them  emigrate. 
We  have  an  excellent  hill-country  drainage  which  helps  to  keep  down 
diseases  of  various  kinds.,  Well-organized  welfare  departments  look 
after  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  folks.  Rockingham  is  a  region  of 
industry,  health,  and  happiness. 

Raw  Materials 

We  are  blessed  by  being  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  best  tobacco- 
growing  area  of  the  Piedmont.  The  fertility  and  variety  of  our  soils 
make  Rockingham  one  of  the  most  profitable  farm  counties  in  North 
Carolina.  Our  tobacco  factories  therefore  have  raw  tobacco  in  abun- 
dance right  at  their  doors,  and  naturally  the  tobacco  industry  is  a  lead- 
ing one  in  the  county.  The  output  of  our  tobacco  factories  is  based 
mainly  on  the  tobacco  that  we  raise  here  at  home.  We  also  have  easy 
access  to  the  great  cotton  fields  of  our  own  and  the  near-by  States,  and 


L 


Industries  and  Opportunities  19 

thus  the  material  for  our  next  great  industry  is  within  close  range  of 
us.  Practically  all  our  raw  materials  are  secured  from  near-by  farm 
areas  and  markets. 

Knilroad  Advantages 

We  are  peculiarly  well  favored  with  good  transportation  facilities. 
Reidsville,  near  the  center  of  the  county,  is  on  the  main  line  of  the 
Southern  Railway,  and  the  county  thereby  gets  the  benefit  of  a  main 
trunk  line  for  its  imports  and  exports.  We  have  the  Southern  Railway 
on  the  east  of  the  county,  the  Norfolk  and  Western  on  the  west,  and 
the  Danville  and  Western  runs  as  far  as  Leaksville  at  the  northern 
end  of  the  county. 

There  is  urgent  need  for  a  branch  line  from  Leaksville-Spray,  our 
industrial  center,  to  either  Reidsville  or  Stoneville,  preferably  Reids- 
ville. Any  products  that  are  shipped  out  of  Leaksville-Spray  or  Draper 
must  be  sent  to  Danville  or  Martinsville,  Virginia,  before  they  can  get 
to  either  Northern  or  Southern  markets.  There  is  great  necessity  for  a 
trunk  line  through  these  towns. 

We  have  improved  public  highways  throughout  the  county  which 
facilitates  our  hauling  and  marketing.  There  are  850  miles  of  these 
roads.  They  are  mainly  of  sand-clay  construction,  with  some  macadam. 
Our  county  is  growing  rapidly,  but  it  needs  to  be  better  provided  with 
good  highways  in  order  that  we  may  more  easily  market  our  farm  and 
factory  products. 

Capital  IiiTCsted 

It  is  hard  to  say  at  this  time  just  what  is  the  total  capital  invested 
in  Rockingham  industries.  No  figures  have  been  given  to  the  public 
since  1915,  and  since  that  date  our  industries  have  jumped  far  ahead 
of  their  figures  of  three  years  ago.  In  the  last  report  of  the  State  Labor 
Commissioner,  18  of  our  manufacturers  declined  to  disclose  the  capital 
they  employed.  Omissions  of  this  kind  keep  us  from  making  a  proper 
showing  for  our  county.  This  report  shows  only  43  industrial  enter- 
prises with  a  combined  capital  of  only  $3,088,000. 

Most  of  the  capital  invested  in  the  county  is  by  foreign  corporations, 
notably  the  American  Tobacco  Company,  and  the  Thread  Mills  Com- 
pany, a  branch  of  the  Marshall  Field  Company  of  Chicago. 

In  the  1916  report  of  the  State  Department  of  Labor  we  find  $2,666,000 
invested  in  cotton  and  woolen  mills.  Since  that  date  four  new  mills 
have  gone  up  and  are  now  in  operation  in  Leaksville-Spray-Draper, 
which  is  a  brisk  industrial  .center  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county. 
Our  investment  in  other  industries,  not  counting  the  Penn  Branch  of 
the  American  Tobacco  Company  and  a  few  other  industries  of  minor 
sort,  is  more  than  $500,000.  These  totals  look  small,  and  they  are, 
but  we  make  a  poor  showing  because  the  mill  owners  fail  to  make 
reports  in  full  to  the  State  departments. 


20  Boclxinglnnn  Count i/:  Economic  and  Social 

Much  more  capital  than  is  here  listed  has  been  invested  in  Rocking- 
ham, but  the  figures  we  present  give  at  least  a  hint  of  our  industrial 
wealth  and  enterprises.  The  output  of  our  factories  is  tabulated  at  the 
end  of  this  chapter. 

3Iachiiiery,  .Management,  and  Labor 

We  are  proud  to  say  that  all  our  factories  are  equipped  with  the  best 
modern  machinery  and  with  other  aids  to  maximum  production.  The 
new  tobacco  factory  that  is  going  up  at  Reidsville  will  be  completely 
outfitted  and  modern.  This  is  also  true  of  the  sheeting  mill  at  Draper, 
the  bleachery  at  Spray,  and  the  bedspread  and  knitting  mills  at  Leaks- 
ville. 

There  is  excellent  cooperation  between  the  managements  and  the 
operatives.  Each  strives  to  aid  the  other,  and  there  is  unbroken  harmony 
between  them.  Many  things  promote  this  good  feeling  between  em- 
ployers and  employees — good  wages,  excellent  health  conditions,  and  the 
character  of  workers  and  foremen.  Agencies  that  go  to  keep  things 
running  in  smooth  order  are  Y.  M.  C.  A's  and  the  departments  of  welfare 
and  health.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  frequent  social  events  to  which  em- 
ployers and  employees  are  both  invited,  and  where  they  are  privileged 
to  discuss  common  problems  and  to  know  each  other  better.  The 
departments  of  welfare  and  health  encourage  properly  kept  yards  and 
houses,  and  offer  prizes  for  the  best  conditioned  house  and  yard.  They 
also  hold  community  center  meetings  and  serve  in  many  ways  to 
encourage  and  promote  democratic  ideals  and  true  fellowship. 

There  seems  to  be  no  danger  of  a  war  between  capital  and  labor  in 
our  county. 

Our  Tobacco  Industries 

The  tobacco  goods  of  our  county  go  into  practically  every  city  in  the 
United  States.  Made-in-Rockingham  brands  are  famous  the  country 
over. 

Some  of  the  earliest  tobacco  plants  in  the  United  States  were  located 
in  Rockingham,  and  today  the  annual  tobacco  output  of  Reidsville  alone 
amounts  to  9,500,000  pounds  of  plug  and  1,750.000  pounds  of  smoking 
tobacco,  having  a  value  of  $7,500,000.  Hundreds  of  people  find  employ- 
ment here,  and  the  salesmen  on  the  road  are  having  such  success  with 
these  products  that  the  factories  are  running  $2,000,000  behind  in 
orders.  Practically  every  large  concern  in  America  has  its  buyers  in 
Reidsville  markets.  The  American  Tobacco  Company  has  a  branch  in 
Reidsville — the  F.  R.  Penn  factory.  From  this  one  factory  goes  four 
million  dollars  worth  of  plug  tobacco  year  by  year.  In  1914  the  Penn 
factory  paid  out  $461,000  for  revenue  stamps  and  probably  a  full  mil- 
lion dollars  during  the  year  ending  on  June  30,  1918. 


I iiihisfries  and  Opportunities  21 

R.  P.  Richardson  operates  in  Reidsville  a  large  granulated  tobacco 
factory.  This  concern  makes  the  "Old  North  State"  brand  of  smoking 
tobacco  which  is  famous  throughout  the  country.  All  in  all,  Reidsville 
makes  Rockingham  County  one  of  the  leading  centers  of  the  United 
States  in  the  production  of  tobacco  goods. 

Because  of  this  vigorous  industry  in  Rockingham,  we  have  naturally 
attracted  many  other  industries  into  this  prosperous  manufacturing 
area.  Our  capital  stock  has  been  augmented  by  the  advent  of  factories 
making  paper  goods,  fertilizers,  tobacco  sacks,  while  job  printeries  and 
other  collateral  industries  have  sprung  up  and  flourished.  We  have  a 
good  reason  for  being  proud  of  our  tobacco  industries  and  of  the  excel- 
lent opportunities  they  offer  to  so  many  breadwinners. 

Our  Textile  Mills 

There  are  now  in  the  county  16  mills,  as  follows:  10  cotton  mills,  2 
woolen  mills.  1  knitting  mill.  1  bleachery,  1  sheeting  mill.  These  have 
a  combined  capital  stock  of  nearly  $7,500,000,  and  employ  several  thou- 
sand men,  women,  and  children.  The  mills  are  all  progressive  and 
prosperous,  and  offer  most  excellent  advantages  to  any  one  who  cares 
to  have  real  work  to  do  at  good  wages  in  pleasant  communities. 

Thirteen  of  these  mills  are  at  Leaksville-Spray-Draper,  a  triple  town 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  county.  The  products  of  these  mills  are 
found  in  every  State  in  the  Union  and  in  almost  every  nation  of  the 
world.  These  three  neighbor-towns  have  made  rapid  progress  under 
their  excellent  systems  of  town  and  mill  management,  and  with  the 
introduction  of  improved  railway  facilities  and  first-class  bakeries, 
laundries,  and  ice  plants  and  the  like,  this  factory  center  bids  fair  to 
spring  into  such  prominence  as  Durham,  Winston-Salem,  Gastonia,  and 
Charlotte  have  won. 

The  Mayo  Mill  system  at  Mayodan  is  an  extensive  textile  establish- 
ment. It  has  the  largest  capital  stock  of  any  mill  in  the  county,  and 
gives  excellent  employment  to  a  thriving  and  busy  population.  The 
mill  is  the  backbone  of  the  town.  Mayodan  is  a  town  with  a  backbone 
but  with  no  backache. 

The  Edna  Mills,  at  Reidsville,  is  not  so  large  a  mill  as  some  of  the 
others,  but  it  is  growing.  It  is  an  attractive  factory  and  it  plays  fair 
with  its  employees.  It  ranks  among  the  model  cotton  mills  of  the  State. 
Reidsville,  however,  is  most  widely  known  for  her  tobacco  factories,  and 
she  is  proud  of  her  success  in  this  field  of  enterprise,  but  she  can  also 
speak  with  pride  of  her  cotton  mills  and  other  thriving  industries. 

Other  Establislinients 

The  main  industries  under  this  heading  are  lumber  mills,  bakeries, 
bottling  works,  construction  companies,  repair  shops  of  various  kinds, 


22  Bockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

flour  and  roller  mills,  printeries  and  the  like.  Their  combined  total 
capital  stock  in  1915  was  over  $500,000.  It  was  probably  more,  but  this 
total  is  all  the  owners  were  willing  to  report  to  the  State  Department 
of  Labor. 

They  are  all  busy,  and  most  of  them  are  prosperous,  but  they  are  not 
keeping  pace  with  the  development  of  our  tobacco  factories  and  our 
cotton  mills.  We  need  more  industries  of  a  diversified  sort,  and  they 
ought  to  be  modern  and  well  equipped.  iThere  are  excellent  advantages 
along  our  railroads  for  the  building  of  factories  of  every  kind.  The 
field  is  far  from  being  fully  occupied. 

For  instance,  we  are  nearer  to  the  forest  areas  of  hardwood  than  High 
Point  is,  and  our  facilities  for  shipping  hardwood  products  are  just  as 
goo^  It  seems  strange  that  wood-working  industries — furniture  fac- 
Eories  and  the  like — have  not  been  developed  in  this  favored  area. 

This  chapter  has  been  based  on  the  incomplete  figures  furnished  by 
the  mill  and  factory  managements  of  the  county  to  the  State  Labor  Com- 
missioner. They  cover  the  year  1915.  We  know  in  a  general  way  what 
industrial  progress  Rockingham  has  made  during  the  last  three  years. 
Establishments,  capital,  employees,  and  output  have  been  doubled  in 
most  instances  and  trebled  in  many  others. 

Rockingham  is  well  in  the  lead  in  manufacture,  but  we  are  not  satisfied 
to  stop  where  we  are.  We  must  work  as  a  unified,  energetic  people  to 
put  Rockingham  over  the  top  in  industrial  wealth  and  enterprise.  It 
was  effort  of  this  sort  that  put  our  three  Liberty  Loans  across;  and  it  is 
just  this  kind  of  common  purpose  and  effort  that  is  needed  to  put  Rock- 
ingham into  the  forefront  of  every  good  thing  and  to  keep  her  there. 

TEXTILE  MILLS  IN  ROCKINGHAM 

Annual 
Town.  Mill.  Operatives.    Capital.  Output. 

Draper Wearwell  Sheeting  Mills....  150 

Draper German-American  Mill   230 

Leaksville.  .Wearwell  Bedspread  Mill...  300 

Leaksville.  .Athena  Knitting  Mills 200 

Mayodan . . .  Mayo  Mills    855 

Reidsville.  .Edna  Cotton  Mills 220 

Spray Leaksville  Cotton  Mills 308 

Spray Lily  Mills    124 

Spray Morehead  Cotton  Mills 115 

Spray Nantucket  Mills 411 

Spray Rhode  Island  Mill 275 

Spray Spray  Cotton  Mill 218 

Spray Leaksville   Woolen   Mills....  115 

Spray Spray  Woolen  Mills 150 

Spray American  Warehouse  Co 250 

Spray Spray  Bleachery   100 


$600,000 

$975,000 

'  650.000 

1.500,000 

120,000 

412,000 

499,000 

88,600 

190,000 

163,000 

265,000 

260,300 

519,000 

208.000 

600,000 

200.000 

600.000 

270,000 

250.000 

105,000 

250,000 

Industries  and  Opportunities 


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Facts  About  Wealth  and  Taxation 

Robert  B.  Gwyx.v,  Leaksville,  N.  C. 

Industries 

The  reader  is  reminded  that  this  and  other  chapters  are  based  on 
tables  that  close  each  discussion. 

Rockingham  is  both  an  agricultural  and  an  industrial  county.  While 
agriculture  is  and  always  has  been  the  occupation  of  a  majority  of  the 
inhabitants,  industries,  and  especially  the  textile  mill  industries,  have 
had  a  tremendous  growth  during  the  last  ten  years.  Leaksville-Spray, 
including  Draper,  has  more  than  doubled  its  investment  in  cotton  and 
woolen  industries  since  1910.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  World  War 
five  new  cotton  mills  have  been  erected  by  Marshall  Field  &  Co.  Leaks- 
ville-Spray is  a  community  of  9,000  people,  eight-ninths  of  whom  have 
moved  into  this  growing  mill  center  since  1900. 

The  town  of  Reidsville,  with  a  population  of  some  eight  thousand 
people,  is  chiefly  engaged  in  tobacco  manufacturing,  as  is  also  the 
smaller  town  of  Stoneville.  In  Mayodan,  a  smaller  town  of  the  county, 
there  is  also  a  textile  mill.  The  total  investment  in  textile  mills  in 
1915  was  about  ?2, 666,000.  Or  at  least,  this  was  the  total  reported  to  the 
State  Labor  Commissioner. 

Other  industries  in  the  county  are  lumber  and  timber  mills,  soft  drink 
factories,  flour  and  meal  mills,  wagon  and  buggy  factories,  brick  fac- 
tories, and  several  others  of  minor  importance.  Rockingham  is  coming 
more  and  more  to  the  front  as  a  growing  industrial  county;  but  the 
reluctance  of  our  industrial  concerns  to  report  the  details  of  their  busi- 
ness makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  establish  our  rank  and  progress. 

Agriculture 

Rockingham  is  still  largely  an  agricultural  county.  In  1910  she 
ranked  31st  in  the  State  in  farm  wealth  with  a  total  of  $6,050,152,  a  tre- 
mendous increase  of  68.7  per  cent  over  the  values  of  1900.  Since  the 
census  year  the  total  farm  wealth  has  increased  at  about  the  same  ratio 
until  at  the  present  time  it  is  nearly  double  what  it  was  in  1910.  Im- 
proved methods  of  agriculture  have  been  largely  responsible  for  this 
Increase.  The  chief  agricultural  product  is  tobacco.  In  1910  Rocking- 
ham produced  8,280,000  pounds  of  tobacco.  Only  Pitt  County  stood 
ahead  of  us.  The  wealth  produced  by  tobacco  is  now  far  greater  than 
ever,  because  our  farmers  are  obtaining  good  prices  of  late — prices 
nearly  three  times  better  than  those  of  1910.  Here  is  the  explanation 
of  our  great  increase  in  the  value  of  farm  properties  since  the  census 
year. 


Wealth  and  Taxation  25 

Our  farmers  are  also  coming  more  and  more  to  realize  the  need  of 
producing  sufficient  meat,  wheat,  corn,  potatoes,  hay,  and  forage  for 
their  own  needs  at  least,  and  are  consequently  endeavoring  to  produce 
these  necessary  supplies  in  addition  to  their  tobacco,  thus  bringing 
about  a  better-balanced  farm  system.  In  agriculture  as  well  as  in  manu- 
facture Rockingham  is  fast  becoming  one  of  the  most  progressive  and 
up-to-date  counties  in  the  State. 

General  Faets 

This  county  stood  15th  in  the  State  in  taxable  property  in  1913,  with 
a  total  of  $12,335,873.  This  was  an  increase  of  SO  per  cent  over  the  total 
of  1903;  the  State  increase  was  only  81  per  cent.  In  taxable  wealth 
and  in  professional  and  income  taxes  paid,  Rockingham  ranks  among  the 
15  richest  counties  of  the  State.  These  are  facts  about  wealth  and 
taxation  for  us  to  be  proud  of.  Since  1910  our  farm  properties  have 
more  than  doubled  in  value;  that  is  to  say,  our  total  farm  wealth  is  now 
around  twelve  million  dollars.  Our  industrial  capital  alone  is  around 
seven  million  dollars.  These  estimates  fairly  indicate  tremendous  gains 
since  the  new  century  began.  One  thing  that  has  helped  to  produce 
this  wonderful  increase  in  wealth  is  the  excellent  road  and  highway 
conditions  throughout  the  county.  In  1914  we  ranked  8th  among  the 
counties  of  the  State  in  improved  roads  and  highways.  Wealth,  good 
roads,  and  good  schools  are  the  basis  of  social  progress  and  develop- 
ment. Rockingham  has  its  faults,  and  some  of  them  rather  serious  ones. 
It  has  its  problems  to  be  solved,  but  we  have  the  resources,  the  intelli- 
gence, and  the  will  to  solve  them. 

A  county  with  .$4  in  motor  cars  for  every  single  dollar  in  school 
property  has  the  wealth,  to  say  the  least. 

HOW  ROCKIXGHAM  RANKS  IX  WEALTH 

Rank.     Rank  indicates  how  many  counties  made  a  better  showing. 

31st    in  total  farm  wealth,  1910  census $6,050,152 

15th  in  total  taxable  wealth,  1913 $12,335,873 

Ten-year  increase,  80%;  State  increase.  81  ^r.  In  1916 
the  total  had  moved  up  to  $13,371,387— a  clear  mil- 
lion-dollar increase. 

91st    in  farm  wealth  increase,'  1900  to  1910,  per  cent 68.7 

State  increase,  130%. 
59th  in  increase  in  value  of  domestic  animals,  1900  to  1910, 

per  cent    97.0 

State  increase,  109%;  Robeson,  200%. 

87th  in  per  capita  country  wealth $191 

Alleghany,  $560';  State,  $322;  U.  S.,  $994;  Iowa.  $3,386. 
Per  capita  taxable  wealth  all  property  in  1910  was 
$207.  White  per  capita  taxable  wealth  in  1910  was 
$279;  negro  per  capita  taxable  wealth  in  1910  was 
$28.80. 


26  Rodcingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

74th  in  negro  farm  owners,  per  cent  of  all  negro  farmers. ...  24 

State  average,  33%.  Negro  farm  owners  in  Rocking- 
ham, 180.  White  farm  owners  in  Rockingham  are 
51%  of  all  white  farmers;  in  North  Carolina,  687c. 

58th  in  tax  rate  (State  and  county)  on  the  $100  in  1913 $.98 

42  counties  had  a  higher  rate,  Yancey  County  highest. 
$1.68%.      In   1916    our   rate  was   the   same,   but   49 
counties  had  a  higher  rate.  Clay  highest,  $2,027:'!. 
19th  in  tax  value  of  farm  land;  compared  with  census  value, 

1910,  per  cent  34 

State  average,  387c.    Average  tax  value  of  our  land  in 

1916  was  $8.41  an  acre;   around  a  fifth  of  current 
market  values. 

11th  in  State  income  taxes  paid,  1913 $1,077.85 

33  counties  paid  no  income  taxes  in  1913,  32  paid  none 
in  1914,  and  26  none  in  1916.  Income  taxes  in 
Rockingham  in  1916.  $1,733;  rank,  10th. 

17th  in  professional  taxes  paid,  1913 $240 

48  lawyers,  dentists,  doctors,  photographers,  archi- 
tects, etc.,  in  Rockingham.  Only  3  in  Rowan;  none 
at  all  in  Harnett.  Duplin.  Caswell,  and  Avery  on  the 
tax  list.     In  1916  the  total  was  $315;  rank,  15th. 

56th  in  white  farm  mortgages,  per  cent 19 

State  average  for  whites,  17%. 

35th  in  negro  farm  mortgages,  per  cent 25 

State  average  for  negroes,  267c.  For  both  races  18.57o 
in  North  Carolina. 

8th  in  improved  roads  in  1914,  per  cent 52 

313  miles  of  improved  roads  in  Rockingham. 

36th  in  per  capita  bank  capital,  1915 $6.34 

State  average,  $8.51.  New  Hanover  highest,  $40.06; 
Stokes,  $2.51;  Caswell  last  with  33  cents. 

34th  in  per  capita  bank  loans  and  discounts,  1915 $32.50 

State  average.   $45.28.     New  Hanover  highest,  $296; 
Stokes.  $14;  Caswell  next  to  last  with  $2.90. 
43rd  in    per    capita    investment   in    public    school    property, 

1915-'16    $4.16 

State  average,  $4.78.  New  Hanover  highest,  $11.89; 
Stokes,  $2.19;  Caswell,  $1.86;  and  Graham  lowest, 
$1.09. 

27th  in  per  capita  investment  in  automobiles $15.56 

State  average,  $12.43.  Greene  highest,  $29.91;  Cas- 
well, $10.90;  Stokes,  $9.59;  and  Yancey  lowest  with 
24  cents.  Rockingham  has  nearly  four  times  as  much 
wealth  in  motor  cars  as  in  schools.     Our  cars  in 

1917  numbered  1,000 — a  fourfold  increase  in  3  years. 


Facts  About  the  Folks 

E.  F.  Dljvcan,  Mayodan,  N.  C. 

Our  facts  about  the  folks  in  Rockingham  County  are  based  on  the 
table  at  the  end  of  the  chapter.  These  come  mainly  from  the  last 
Federal  Census.  They  are  true  for  the  dates  given,  not  for  the  year 
1017.  Only  once  every  ten  years  does  any  county  in  the  United  States 
have  a  chance  to  take  stock  of  itself.  However,  the  facts  we  give  are 
suggestive.  They  show  us  certain  drifts  and  tendencies  in  our  county, 
and  enable  us  to  compare  Rockingham  with  other  counties  of  the  State. 

Deusity  of  Population 

In  1910  the  total  population  of  the  county  was  36,442.  Although 
Rockingham  ranks  twenty-ninth  in  size,  only  nine  counties  in  the  State 
have  a  larger  population.  Our  rural  population  was  54.6  people  per 
square  mile.  Only  ten  counties  in  the  State  had  more.  This  means,  of 
course,  small  farmers  and  a  closely  settled  farm  population,  which  is  a 
distinct  social  advantage.  Rural  people  like  to  have  neighbors  fairly 
near  by.  Often  they  become  dissatisfied  and  move  into  town  simply  to 
mingle  with  folks.  But  our  density  of  rural  population  also  means  that 
Rockingham  is  located  in  the  great  industrial  area  of  North  Carolina. 
Industries  depend  on  an  abundant  labor  supply  in  the  surrounding 
territory,  and  this  we  have  in  Rockingham,  just  as  in  Forsyth,  Durham, 
and  Gaston. 

This  desire  for  association,  together  with  other  factors,  has  caused 
our  city  and  town  population  to  increase  at  the  expense  of  the  rural 
communities  of  Rockingham  and  the  adjoining  counties,  but  so  far  it 
has  not  alarmingly  decreased  our  rural  population.  In  spite  of  the  low 
prices  of  farm  products  during  the  first  ten  years  of  the  new  century 
and  the  call  of  the  cities  for  industrial  workers,  our  rural  population 
increased  5.7  per  cent,  and  it  was  mainly  a  white  increase.  This  means 
that  our  farmers,  the  producers  of  bread  and  meat  for  our  town  popu- 
lations, are  fairly  well  holding  their  own  in  numbers  if  not  in  pros- 
perity. Since  1910  the  proportion  of  our  rural  population  has  fallen 
from  four-fifths  to  two-thirds  of  our  total  population,  while  our  town 
dwellers  have  increased  from  7,200  to  20,000  or  more. 

Law  and  Order 

Usually  when  the  countryman  moves  to  town  he  takes  with  him  his 
love  for  elbow-room,  his  independent,  democratic  spirit.  He  has  had 
no  one  to  dictate  to  him  about  what  time  he  shall  go  to  work,  when  he 
may  stop,  how  much  he  may  talk  and  laugh,  how  loud  he  may  yell. 


28  Rockingham  Count i/:  Economic  and  Social 

where  his  pig-pen  shall  or  shall  not  be,  on  which  side  of  the  street  he 
may  tie  his  horse,  and  how  long  he  may  leave  him.  In  short,  he  has 
been  his  own  boss.  When  he  gets  to  town,  town  customs  and  ordinances 
are  all  new  to  him.  It  takes  time  for  him  to  become  socially  adjusted, 
and  it  is  during  this  time  that  most  of  our  fights  and  homicides  occur. 
Misunderstandings  often  become  shotgun  affairs.  Here,  in  brief,  is  an 
explanation  of  our  homicide  rates  in  Rockingham  and  the  rest  of  the 
State.  They  are  too  high,  but  they  are  due  to  the  rapid  growth  of  our 
small  towns  and  cities. 

Kocking^liani  t'ountj   Patriotism 

Perhaps  no  county  in  the  State  has  worked  with  a  greater  spirit  of 
patriotism  than  Rockingham  for  our  country  and  our  allies  in  the 
present  crisis.  She  has  been  one  of  the  foremost  counties  of  the  State 
to  sacrifice  her  sons  and  to  give  her  dollars  for  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
humanity.  Company  E  was  among  the  first  to  reach  war  strength  by 
the  addition  of  volunteers.  Rockingham  has  over-subscribed  her  share 
of  the  three  Liberty  Loan  issues,  and  she  contributed  freely  to  the  Red 
Cross  and  the  Army  Y.  M.  C.  A.  funds.  These  war  loans  and  gifts  were 
not  made  by  wealthy  men  alone,  but  by  preachers,  teachers,  students, 
school  children,  factory  employees,  farmers,  and  business  men  alike. 
Besides  all  this,  last  November  found  many  housewives,  white  and 
colored,  pledgfng  themselves  to  aid  Mr.  Hoover  in  the  conservation  of 
food  supplies.  Others  today  are  helping  Uncle  Sam  by  the  purchase 
of  Thrift  Stamps.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  War  Savings 
Stamps  in  Raleigh  the  other  day,  Rockingham  was  represented  by  a 
larger  delegation  than  any  other  county  in  the  State. 

3Iarriage,  Birth,  and  Death  Rates 

The  development  of  a  community  is  closely  related  to  the  marriage, 
birth,  and  death  rates. 

In  the  number  of  marriages  per  thousand  of  population  in  1914,  we 
ranked  twenty-second,  which  is  to  say,  only  twenty-one  counties  made  a 
better  showing.  We  ought  to  have  the  same  high  rank  in  birth  rates, 
but  in  this  particular  61  counties  made  a  better  showing  in  1915.  Those 
who  believe  that  there  is  a  world-wide  danger  of  race  suicide  should 
study  these  facts  closely.  We  are  fairly  near  the  top  in  marriage  rate 
but  too  near  the  bottom  in  birth  rate.  The  reasons  therefor  challenge 
the  thought  of  all  who  are  interested  in  our  future. 

In  our  death  rate,  12.1  per  thousand  inhabitants  in  1915.  we  are  a 
little  below  the  average  of  the  State  and  well  below  that  of  the  United 
States.  Forty-one  counties  made  a  better  showing,  but  our  excess  of 
births  over  deaths  was  20  per  thousand  inhabitants,  and,  comparatively, 
this  is  an  excellent  showing. 


Facts  About  the  Folks  29 

Faotorj    Work  and  Motherhood 

Whether  our  low  birth  rate  is  in  any  way  related  to  the  fact  that  many 
of  our  girls  and  mothers  work  in  the  factories  is  a  question  which  our 
industrial  captains,  as  well  as  our  health' departments,  can  well  afford 
to  ponder  over.  It  is  an  economic  as  well  as  a  social  problem.  It  con- 
cerns wealth  as  well  as  welfare.  And  the  problem  here,  as  well  as  else- 
where, is  heightened  by  the  absence  of  so  many  of  our  men  in  the  service 
of  their  country.  If  our  farms  are  to  be  improved,  our  waste  lands  made 
productive,  and  our  industries  expanded,  our  birth  rate  must  far  exceed 
our  death  rate. 

It  is  just  as  important  to  lower  the  death  rate  as  it  is  to  increase  the 
birth  rate.    The  difference  between  the  two  is  what  counts. 

The  economic  and  social  conditions  in  which  most  of  our  children 
live  present  the  most  vital  problem  that  any  community  has  to  consider. 
In  many  of  our  well-to-do  homes  we  usually  find  only  one  or  two  chil- 
dren, or  perhaps  none  at  all.  On  the  other  hand,  in  most  back  alleys 
and  in  many  factory  settlements  we  find  as  many  as  six,  eight,  ten,  or 
even  more  children  in  the  home. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  women  in  our  factories  tend  to  have  more 
children  than  women  who  work  outside.  Many  of  these  large  families 
have  just  moved  in  from  country  communities.  It  does  show,  however, 
that  the  birth  rate  is  related  to  farm  conditions,  factory  conditions,  home 
conditions,  and  a  score  of  other  causes  that  need  to  be  studied  by  our 
thoughtful  people. 

A  main  question  for  our  leaders  to  ask  is.  How  are  we  to  raise  the 
level  of  our  community?  If  ignorance  and  poverty  tend  to  multiply 
themselves  faster  than  education  and  wealth,  what  is  our  problem? 
Do  not  these  people  who  furnish  the  workers  for  our  industries  and  the 
fighters  for  our  armies  deserve  the  very  best  that  we  can  give?  These 
are  some  of  the  things  that  w^e  need  to  think  about. 

And  our  leaders  are  alive  to  these  problems.  The  factories  have  won- 
derfully improved  the  conditions  under  which  their  employees  labor, 
as  well  as  the  homes  in  which  they  live.  Some  of  our  most  recent  tenant 
houses  rival  many  of  our  most  comfortable  and  coveted  bungalows. 
Besides  all  this,  some  of  our  factories  employ  one  or  more  trained  nurses 
to  look  after  the  health  conditions  of  their  employees  and  to  care  for 
them  while  sick. 

Our  Health  Work 

In  this  connection  we  ought  to  mention  the  health  work  done  in 
Rockingham.  We  have  come  to  realize  fully  that  it  is  important  for  a 
community  to  do  everything  in  its  power  to  keep  the  people  well,  and 
so  several  competent  physicians  and  nurses  are  employed  to  look  after 
the  concerns  of  community  sanitation  and  health.  They  are  public 
health  workers  paid  by  school  and  factory  authorities. 


30  RocTclngham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

All  children  in  the  schools,  both  white  and  colored,  are  examined,  and 
as  far  as  possible  cared  for  by  the  school  nurses.  Besides  being  good  for 
the  children,  it  is  an  advantage  to  keep  them  able  to  be  regular  in  their 
attendance  at  school. 

As  a  result  of  the  cooperation  of  various  agencies  in  this  work,  much 
sickness  has  been  prevented,  many  epidemics  avoided,  smallpox  almost 
eradicated,  typhoid  moved  toward  zero,  and  the  general  death  rate 
appreciably  lowered. 

However,  Rockingham  County  employs  no  whole-time  public  health 
officer,  as  do  thirteen  other  counties  of  the  State.  Here  is  a  step  for- 
ward that  our  county  commissioners  need  to  take. 

Social  Welfare  Acthities 

Otherwise,  Rockingham  is  striving  to  do  as  much  for  the  social  wel- 
fare of  its  people  as  any  other  county  in  the  State.  Our  good  women 
have  organized  various  clubs  and  societies  which  contribute  to  the  good 
fellowship  of  our  people  and  the  beauty  of  our  towns. 

The  Junior  Order  of  American  Mechanics  has  contributed  largely  to 
the  social  welfare  of  the  county.  The  taxpayers  have  provided  a  county 
home  for  those  that  need  it. 

Various  charitable  organizations  look  after  the  needs  of  the  deserving 
poor,  while  a  good  school  is  in  reach  of  every  child.  At  Leaksville- 
Spray  we  have  an  up-to-date  Y.  W.  C.  A.  building  for  the  girls  and 
women  of  the  community.  It  has  a  hospitable  open  door  for  the  girls 
and  women  of  other  communities  who  go  to  live  in  this  brisk  mill 
center.  Reidsville  needs  such  a  building,  and  both  towns  need  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  buildings.  The  Graded  School  in  Spray  has  provided  a  gymnasium 
for  the  girls. 

Besides  the  social  agencies  named,  we  have  well-equipped  playgrounds 
at  some  of  the  schools  and  in  several  of  the  factory  settlements,  as  well 
as  public  playgrounds  and  parks  in  the  towns.  For  work  of  this  kind, 
the  various  mill  authorities  deserve  special  mention.  Some  of  them 
provide  reading-rooms  and  games  for  the  amusement  and  instruction 
of  their  people.  In  some  of  these  mill  communities,  baseball  is  one  of 
the  most  popular  games,  and  it  is  generously  promoted  by  the  mill 
owners.  The  people  take  a  lively  interest  in  baseball  and  look  forward 
to  the  season  each  year  with  great  anticipation. 

In  Spray,  open-air  motion  pictures — some  for  amusement,  others  for 
instruction  in  public  health  and  sanitation — have  added  to  the  equip- 
ment for  recreation.  These  with  the  band  furnish  recreation  for  the 
entire  community.  The  Graded  School  building  in  Spray  is  a  center 
for  all  the  social  agencies  of  the  town.  Here  are  held  community  meet- 
ings of  every  sort.  The  amusements  are  free  or  inexpensive,  and  the 
instruction  concerns  the  common  affairs  of  life — the  school,  the  Red 


Facts  About  the  Foils  31 

Cross,  War  Savings,  the  Liberty  Loans,  health,  morals,  and  what  not. 
We  have  heard  a  vast  deal  about  making  the  school  a  center  of  com- 
munity life.    The  school  in  Spray  is  exactly  such  a  center. 

An  Educated  People 

Whether  or  not  we  can  consider  ourselves  a  well-educated  community 
depends  upon  what  showing  we  make  when  compared  with  other  coun- 
ties and  communities. 

« 

In  the  matter  of  white  illiterates,  ten  years  old  and  over,  52  counties 
in  North  Carolina  make  a  better  showing  than  Rockingham,  and  51 
counties  have  smaller  ratios  of  native  white  illiterate  voters.  In  1910 
there  were  2,302  whites  in  the  county  ten  years  old  and  over  who  could 
not  read  and  write,  which  was  a  little  more  than  twelve  people  in  every 
hundred.  Included  in  this  number  were  848  white  voters.  They  were 
over  one-seventh  of  our  total  white  voting  population.  For  our  State, 
this  is  not  such  a  bad  record,  but  we  should  remember  that  North 
Carolina  is  almost  at  the  bottom  of  the  illiteracy  list.  Only  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona  rank 
lower  in  total  illiteracy,  but  these  States  have  excessive  negro,  Indian, 
or  Mexican  populations. 

With  these  facts  in  mind,  every  voter  in  the  county  ought  to  welcome 
the  opportunity  to  cast  his  ballot  in  the  coming  election  for  the  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  which  provides  a  six  months  school  term  for 
our  rural  communities. 

Church  Membership 

Only  by  comparison  can  we  realize  our  status  as  a  religious  people. 
The  table  that  follows  shows  that  only  38  of  every  100  of  our  people 
ten  years  of  age  and  over  are  members  of  any  church  of  any  name*  or 
faith.  In  this  particular,  85  counties  make  a  better  showing.  We  are 
slightly  more  than  one-third  efficient  as  a  church  community.  We  can 
never  boast  of  our  religious  status  as  long  as  15,657  of  our  people  in 
1906  were  not  on  the  rolls  of  any  church  whatsoever.  It  is  not  en- 
couraging to  realize  that  we  were  6  per  cent  below  the  State  average  of 
church  membership  and  1.1  per  cent  below  the  average  for  the  United 
States,  but  such  are  the  facts  as  they  appear  in  the  last  published 
census  of  religious  bodies  in  the  United  States. 

However,  we  have  many  faithful  church  and  Sunday  School  leaders, 
and  almost  everywhere  we  see  old  church  buildings  improved  or  replaced 
by  magnificent  ones.  It  indicates  the  willingness  of  a  small  group  of 
people  to  give  freely  of  their  wealth  for  Christian  welfare.  Our  church 
membership  ratio  is  too  low;  our  active,  devoted  church  and  Sunday 
School  workers  are  too  few,  and  a  vast  work  lies  ahead  of  our  church 
people  in  Rockingham. 


32  liocliinghain  Coindy:  Economic  and  Social 

A  Workiiijf  People 

We  need  no  figures  to  prove  that  we  are  a  working  people.  The  great 
hordes  of  operatives  pouring  into  our  industrial  plants  in  the  mornings 
and  out  again  at  nightfall  are  proof  enough. 

It  may  be  consoling  to  some  and  a  warning  to  others  to  know  that  we 
have  a  large  number  of  girls  and  women  in  our  factories.  There  were 
over  1,100  of  such  workers  in  our  mills  and  factories  in  1915.  Many  of 
our  business  people  and  industrial  captains  will  say  we  stand  high  in 
this  matter,  while  our  doctors  and  public  health  workers,  perhaps,  will 
call  it  low.  No  matter  what  opinion  we  may  have,  we  must  take  off  our 
hats  to  the  women  workers  of  Rockingham  for  the  part  they  are  playing 
in  helping  to  support  their  homes  and  to  build  up  our  industries.  And 
we  shout.  "Long  live  the  factory  managers  who  are  improving  living 
and  sanitary  conditions  in  the  factories  and  factory  communities,  who 
are  providing  playgrounds  for  the  young,  night  schools  for  the  mentally 
hungry,  nurses  for  the  sick,  and  who,  without  being  requested  to  do  so, 
are  increasing  the  wages  of  their  workers  time  and  again  to  meet  the 
increased  cost  of  living." 

A  Satisfied  People 

With  conditions  of  this  sort,  no  wonder  our  people  are  contented.  As 
long  as  we  continue  to  give  attention  to  the  important  concerns  of  our 
social  life,  we  are  not  likely  to  be  bothered  with  the  labor  troubles  of 
the  North  and  West.  As  long  as  the  wages  of  our  industrial  workers 
are  fair  and  their  surroundings  are  healthful,  wholesome,  and  satisfying. 
our  factory  centers  will  be  filled  with  contented  breadwinners  and  the 
dividends  of  capital  will  be  secure.  However,  it  is  well  to  remember 
that  a  landless,  homeless  people  in  our  farm  regions  or  in  our  factory 
centers  is  everywhere  a  fertile  soil  in  which  to  sow  seeds  of  restless 
discontent.  No  wage-earner  can  ever  have  wages  enough  to  keep  him 
from  wandering  about  from  place  to  place;  but  if  he  owns  his  own  home 
place,  a  pig,  some  chickens,  and  a  garden,  he  is  satisfied  to  stay  on  in 
the  same  place  from  year  to  year,  even  if  wages  are  higher  somewhere 
else.  With  this  said,  let  us  consider  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  the 
people  who  live  in  somebody  else's  houses  and  cultivate  other  people's 
land  in  Rockingham  are  602  in  every  thousand  of  population,  and  that 
in  this  particular  78  counties  make  a  better  showing.  We  have  too  few 
home  and  farm-owners  for  social  stability,  sanity,  and  safety. 

A  Homogeneous  People 

Our  whites  are  almost  wholly  an  Anglo-Saxon  people.  Our  foreign- 
born  in  1910  numbered  only  50  all  told,  in  a  population  of  nearly  37,000. 
Only  4  were  Germans,  7  were  Russians,  while  Italy.  Sweden,  Holland, 
and  France  were  represented  by   1    each.     Our   Indians,   Chinese,  and 


Fads  About  the  Folks  33 

Japanese  were  3.  The  rest  were  born  in  Canada  and  the  British  Isles. 
We  know  nothing  of  the  foreign-born  anarchy  and  pro-Germanism  that 
afflicts  the  North  and  West. 

HOW  JiOCKIXaiA.lI  KA>KS 

Rank  in  important  particulars.     The  rank  at  the  left  margin  indicates 
the  number  of  counties  that  make  a  better  showing. 

Rank. 

28th  in  land  area,  1910.  acres 370,560 

10th  in  total  population,  1910  census 36,442 

11th  in  density  of  rural  population,  people  per  square  mile....  54.6 

68th  in  rural  population  increase  from  1900-1910 5.7 

13th  in  total  white  population  in  1910 25,965 

23rd  in  total  negro  population,  1910 10,474 

11th  in  ten-year  decrease  of  negro  population,  per  cent  decrease, 

1900-'10    6.3 

53rd  in  native  white  illiterates,  ten  years  old  and  over,  percent  12.3 

Total    white    illiterates,    2.302.      State    average,    12.3%; 
United  States  average,  4.2%. 

52nd  in  native  white  illiterate  voters,  per  cent 14.4 

Number.  848.     State  average,  14'/y: ;  Unitedi  States  aver- 
age, 4.2%. 
22nd  in  marriage  rate  per  1.000  population,  15  years  old  and 

over,  1914  12.2 

State  average.  10.1%  ;    Pasquotank,  23.4%.     Total  mar- 
riages in  1914  pere  442. 

62nd  in  birth  rate  per  1,000  of  population.  1915 32.5 

Average  for  the  United  States.  2*6.6  in  1913;  average  for 
North  Carolina,  33.4  in  1915. 

42nd  in  death  rate  per  1.000  of  population.  1915 12.1 

Average  for  the  United  States  was  15  in  1913;  average 
for  North  Carolina,  13.2  in  1915. 

86th     in  church  membership,  per  cent 38.0 

15,657  people  ten  years  old  and  over  outside  the  church. 
Average  for  North  Carolina,  44%. 
42nd  in  homicides,  average  annual  rate  per  million  inhabitants, 

1910-'14    75 

Average  for  the  Unitedi  States,  72.     Average  for  North 
Carolina,  95. 

79th  in  tenancy,  town  and  country,  per  cent 60.2 

75th  in  farm  tenancy,  per  cent 54.5 

Foreign-Born  Population  in  1910 

Only  50,  all  told. 

Canada 8  Japan    1 

England  18  China    1 

France   1  Scotland    5 

Germany  4  Russia    7 

Holland   1  Italy    1 

Wales  1  Indian    1 

Sweden 1 


Farm  Conditions  and  Practices 

C.  H.  S-MiTH  and  N.  A.  Womack,  Reidsville,  N.  C. 

At  the  close  of  this  chapter  will  be  found  a  table  worked  out  of  the 
1910  census  and  other  authoritative  sources  of  information.  This  table 
shows  (1)  certain  fundamental  facts  about  Rockingham  set  over  against 
similar  facts  about  other  counties  and  the  State  at  large,  and  (2)  how 
the  county  stands  in  each  particular  when  compared  with  other  counties 
of  the  State. 

This  table  affords  the  basis  for  an  interpretative  chapter  of  great 
length,  but  there  is  room  for  only  a  brief,  simple  discussion  of  it  in  this 
bulletin.  The  reader  is  asked  to  study  carefully  this  and  similar  tables 
closing  other  chapters  in  this  bulletin. 

Eockiii^ham  Mainly  Agricultural 

We  may  be  surprised  to  know  how  greatly  Rockingham  still  remains 
on  the  agricultural  side  of  the  balance  sheet.  The  1910  census  shows 
that  there  were  31,614  people  outside  our  six  towns.  The  rural  popula- 
tion per  square  mile  was  54.6  per  cent.  The  total  population  of  the 
county  in  1910  was  36,442,  but  it  can  justly  be  estimated  now  at  50,000; 
nevertheless  nearly  exactly  two-thirds  or  66  per  cent  of  our  population 
still  dwell  in  our  country  regions.  Rockingham  is  fortunate,  however, 
in  having  some  large  towns  that  are  good  markets  for  home-raised 
products. 

The  cities  can  increase  the  wealth  of  the  county  twofold  by  rewarding 
the  farmers  with  fair  prices  and  profits  for  home-raised  food  products. 
At  present  the  farmers  swarm  into  town  on  Saturdays  and  glut  the 
markets  with  country  produce.  In  consequence,  they  get  poor  prices 
for  their  products.  Oftentimes  they  must  give  their  products  away  or 
almost  so  rather  than  take  them  back  home.  By  Wednesday  of  every 
week  the  towns  suffer  a  sort  of  food  famine. 

What  I  am  trying  to  say  is,  that  our  farmers  are  confirmed  in  the 
habit  of  raising  tobacco  and  neglecting  bread  and  meat  products  because 
they  can  turn  tobacco  into  instant,  ready  cash.  Not  so  with  their  farm 
produce.  The  habit  of  producing  food  supplies  in  abundance  could  be 
established  in  them  if  only  the  towns  would  provide  free  public  market 
houses,  camping  yards,  and  hitching  stalls.  Our  larger  towns  need 
market  arrangements,  facilities,  and  conveniences.  Reidsville  offers 
unbounded  advantages  to  the  man  who  will  put  in  a  cold  storage  plant 
and  handle  county  produce,  says  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

If  such  an  enterprise  is  not  developed  as  a  municipal  undertaking, 

private  capital  will  seize  upon  the  opportunity  here  as  in  so  many  other 

.lively  cities.    The  chance  once  lost  is  never  recovered  by  a  municipality. 


<^ 


Farm  Conditions  and  Practices  35 

There  are  370.5G0  acres  of  land  in  Rockingham,  and  this  ample  area 
./or.:;  uX  Chance  to  hecome  one  of  the  ^^chest  food-produejng  cou.U^ 
in  the   South.     But  245.000  acres,  or  nearly  two-thirds  ot   the  entiie 

unty   a  e  idle,  wilderness  acres,  unused  at  present  for  farn.  purposes. 
At  $  o' an  acre  this  land  represents  nearly  $5,000,000  of  dead  capUal- 
:   Lrly  so.  hecause  the  wood-lot  products  yield  a  very  -al^^-^- 
upon  the  investment.     A  full  half  of  this  area  ought  to  be  turned 

live-stock  farm  uses.  ,  „ 

AS  we  are  66  per  cent  a  tanning  people,  let  us  see  what  th    totaHarm 

wealth  01  RocRingham  Is.    The  1»10  cop  censns  ^--  '  /'^f -"^W;'^ 
The  crop  values  pio.luced  in  that  year  amounted  to  n,834,52D   ana  our 
L  na,     roLcts  were  only  ,436.4M;  which  is  to  say,  tour      ths  ot  on 
farm  wealth  Is  produced  hy  crops  and  only  one-lilth  by  live-stock 

''"wr'ar:°!rt%arn,ers  mainly,  and  crop  tarmers  never  accumulate 
we!,  h  as  liveitocR  tarmers  do.    In  1910  we  were  81  per  cent  helow  the 
eve   „I  even  a  lightly  stocked  farm  area.    Eighty-two  counfes  made  a 
hettlr  showing  in  this  particular,  and  fltteen  a  better  showing  i.t  meat 
Bod^Hon     we  need  more  tarm  animals  ot  every  sort,  and  in  parfcula 
,0,^      eat  and  dairy  tarn.ing.    We  need  more  and  ^e""  -■-  ^/^ 
an  immense  increase  in  pork  production.    Our  u-used  ta  m  areas  are 
snflicient    and  our  soils  and  seasons  are  the  very  best  tor  it  .n  the 
itntTc  Piedmont  region.    In  no  other  way  can  - --  ^^^^Vs     Th 
mnnpv  at  home  to  enrich  our  farmers,  our  merchants  and  hankers,     ine 
bulk  of  ou^      op  wealth  now  goes  to  Western  farmers  for  food,  so  let  us 
chlnge  that  and  keep  our  money  at  home.    How?    We  can  raise  enough 
wheat  corn  and  hay  to  feed  our  families  and  stock  and  use  our  surplus 
land    or   n<;ney  crops.     We  can  open  up  swamp  lands  and  dram  them 
raking  a^lmirlble  grazing  lands  for  cattle.     The  «eM  that  .  to^  rc,cky 
to  grow  corn  can  be  cleared  and  sown  m  grass.     If  ma  uied  pioperly 
it  will  bring  good  returns  in  grass  and  feed  for  our  cattle. 

1  great  lesson  we  must  learn  is  to  build  up  our  waste  lands  and  raise 
more  ood  and  feed.  The  prices  of  food  ought  now  to  induce  our  farmers 
Tproduce  food  crops  in  abundance;  not  less  tobacco,  but  more  bread 
and  mea  Tobacco  is  high  at  present,  but  nobody  knows  any  better 
han  Rockingham  farmers  that  tobacco  prices  -e  as  uncertain  as  th 
turn  of  a  gambler's  wheel.  Our  gullied  areas  ought  to  be  turned  into 
orchards     We  have  too  few  young  orchards  in  one  of  the  best  orchard 

^^^^r:.:rM  t:rallTh^^food  Amenca  can  produce,  both  now  and  for 
thlnext  ten  years.  Nothing  is  any  clearer  than  that.  There  is  almost 
a  world  famine  in  meat  animals,  and  it  will  take  a  decade  to  restore  the 
bain  e  when  war  is  over.  Every  available  field  must  be  cleared,  en- 
Hched  and  used.    Any  far-sighted  farmer  might  see  that  after  this  war 


36  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

the  eyes  of  the  people  of  stricken  Europe  will  turn  to  America  as  never 
before.  If  we  have  fertile,  well-developed  farm  lands  we  can  sell  them 
readily  at  a  good  price.  And  if  we  don't  care  to  sell  them,  then  we  can 
rent  them  at  much  higher  prices. 

Latter  Day  Dovelopiiu'iits 

Rockingham  has  always  had  some  farmers  as  good  as  the  farmers  of 
any  county  or  country  on  the  globe;  farmers  who  have  always  raised 
tobacco  on  a  bread-and-meat  basis;  live-at-home  farmers  with  cribs, 
barns,  and  smokehouses  filled  to  bursting  year  by  year  with  home-raised 
food  and  feed  supplies.  And  they  have  always  been  prosperous  and 
influential.  But  they  have  always  been  too  few  in  number.  We  must 
have  more  such  farmers  if  agriculture  in  Rockingham  is  to  keep  pace 
with  our  development  in  manufacture. 

In  general,  however,  our  common  practices  are  improving.  We  clear 
a  field  and  put  it  in  tobacco  the  first  year,  sow  it  with  wheat  in  the  fall, 
and  follow  wheat  with  peas  and  clover.  We  terrace  our  lands,  fill  up 
our  gullies,  and  build  up  our  soils  with  sensible  rotations.  We  are 
gradually  improving  our  farm  animals  in  quality  as  well  as  in  numbers. 
We  are  headed  the  right  way,  but  we  are  not  moving  fast  enough.  In 
1914  the  bottom  dropped  out  of  tobacco  prices,  and  as  a  result  we  pro- 
duced more  tobacco  than  ever  in  191.5,  but  also  we  more  than  doubled 
our  production  of  corn,  wheat,  and  oats,  hay  and  forage,  pork  and 
poultry.  And  we  can  keep  up  this  pace  year  by  year  unless  we  are 
incurably  afflicted  with  tobacco  mania.  And  as  farm  labor  steadily 
decreases,  we  must  have  more  labor-saving,  profit-producing  farm 
machinery  in  our  grain  and  hay  fields,  or  we  shall  fall  hopelessly  behind. 
The  Iowa  farmer  cultivates  six  acres  with  machine  power  for  every 
acre  we  cultivate  with  human  power,  using  simple  farm  tools.  Neither 
on  the  farm  nor  anywhere  else  can  hand  power  compete  successfully 
with  machine  power. 

The  Lessons  of  Half  a  Century 

\ 
During  the  fifty  years  between  1860  and  1910  the  population  of  Rock- 
ingham has  more  than  doubled,  the  increase  being  from  16,746  to  36,442. 
Our  work  animals  increased  from  2,533  to  4,611.  Our  tobacco  crop  in 
1360  was  only  3,158,333  pounds,  while  in  1910  it  was  8,279,194  pounds, 
or  nearly  three  times  as  large.  At  the  end  of  the  last  census  period 
Rockingham  ranked  second  in  North  Carolina  in  the  production  of  this 
crop. 

In  other  words,  during  the  last  fifty  years  we  have  been  mainly 
occupied  in  producing  cash  crops  and  getting  ready  money  into  circula- 
tion. This  has  been  done  under  the  pressure  of  hard  necessity.  The 
Civil  War  left  us  with  land  and  labor  in  abundance,  but  with  no  oper- 


Farm  Conditions  and  Practices  37 

ating  capital.  We  needed  money,  and  tobacco  produces  greater  gross 
values  per  acre  than  any  other  standard  farm  crop  on  earth.  A  county 
without  cash  crops  and  ready  money  is  hopelessly  crippled  in  these 
days  of  modern  commerce.! 

Our  tobacco  has  saved  us  from  being  a  static  or  stagnant  farm  area 
like  some  of  the  tidewater  counties.  But  also  it  explains  why  we  are 
comparatively  a  poor  farm  population.  Our  per  capita  country  wealth 
in  farm  properties  in  1910  was  only  $191,  and  86  counties  made  a  better 
showing.  It  is  a  small  figure  to  set  against  $560  in  Alleghany,  $994  in 
the  United  States,  and  $3,386  in  Iowa.  For  long  years  we  have  tried 
to  get  rich  buying  farm  supplies  with  tobacco  money.  We  have  tried  it 
long  enough  to  know  that  it  cannot  be  done.  (_^In  1860  we  were  farming 
on  a  domestic  level,  which  is  to  say,  we  lived  on  products  with  little  con- 
cern about  markets  and  profits,  and  we  lived  well.  But  today  every 
business,  farming  included,  is  inescapably  related  to  commerce,  and 
commerce  is  a  world  dominated  by  prices  and  profits."^  We  produce  the 
finest  farm  crop  known  to  the  world  of  markets.  The  gross  values  are 
great,  but  so  is  the  cost  of  producing  it;  and  because  we  have  lost  the 
art  and  the  impulse  of  living-at-home  on  our  own  bread  and  meat,  our 
meager  net  profits  on  tobacco  slip  through  our  fingers  and  leave  us  just 
as  poor  as  ever.  Indeed,  the  farmers  of  only  thirteen  counties  in  North 
Carolina  are  poorer.  Un  I860  our  cash  crops  were  practically  nothing; 
in  1910  they  were  worth  nearly  a  million  dollars.  But  they  paid  less 
than  half  our  bill  for  imported  bread  and  meat  supplies. 

We  have  failed  to  attain  the  prosperity  that  abounds  among  the 
farmers  of  the  Middle  West.  They  buy  our  tobacco  and  sell  us  food 
and  feed  supplies.  We  buy  their  food  and  feed  supplies  and  sell  them 
tobacco.  They  get  rich  and  we  stay  poor.  The  point  is  this:  If  ever  we 
learn  to  keep  our  tobacco  money  at  home,  by  producing  it  on  a  live-at- 
home,  bread-and-meat  basis,  we  shall  be,  in  ten  years,  the  richest  farm 
people  on  the  continent.  For  instance,  this  year  our  tobacco  crop  has 
brought  into  the  county  three  million  brand  new  dollars.  If  only  we 
could  hold  it  down  in  Rockingham,  or  some  reasonable  share  of  it  year 
by  year,  we  would  double  our  farm  wealth  in  three  years. 
\ln  1860  we  w'ere  producing  small  grains,  peas,  and  beans  at  the  rate 
of  33  bushels  per  inhabitant.  It  was  nearly  enough  for  both  folks  and 
farm  animals,  but  with  no  surplus  to  sell.  In  1910  we  had  fallen  to 
17.2  bushels  per  inhabitant;  which  is  to  say,  we  nearly  trebled  our 
tobacco  but  our  grain  crops  had  fallen  behind  a  full  half.  All  told,  the 
food  we  produced  per  inhabitant  was  $48  less  than  we  needed,  and  our 
total  bill  for  imported  food  and  feed  for  man  and  beast  was  $2,130,000 
in  the  census  year.1  If  we  have  not  produced  breadstuffs  in  larger  abun- 
dance this  year,  our  bill  for  imported  bread  and  meat  is  around  five 
million  dollars.     Naturally  this  imported  food  must  be  paid  for  with 


38  Roclcingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

tobacco  money  for  the  most  part,  and  our  tobacco  money  this  year  is 
only  $3,000,000  at  30-cent  prices. 

We  need  to  increase  our  production  of  grain,  hay,  and  forage.  Both 
in  ISeO  and  in  1910  we  were  producing  potatoes  in  meager  quantities — 
only  2 '4  bushels  per  inhabitant,  which  is  less  than  a  third  of  what  we 
need.  We  are  probably  producing  pork  enough  for  home  use,  but  our 
meat  diet  is  deficient  in  beef,  mutton,  poultry,  and  eggs.  And  an  ill- 
balanced  diet  means  pellagra,  as  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service 
is  now  demonstrating. 

Rockingham,  however,  has  moved  up  in  agricultural  development 
since  the  last  census  year.  But  in  looking  back  at  our  agriculture  sixty 
years,  let  us  see  and  see  clearly  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers  in 
producing  abundant  home  supplies  on  every  farm.  In  those  days  a 
farmer  was  in  disgrace  if  he  had  to  buy  meat  and  corn  in  the  run  of  the 
year.  Our  ideal  must  be  to  retain  the  largest  amount  possible  of  the 
wealth  we  produce.  This  ideal  can  never  be  reached  until  we  have  a 
better  balanced  farming  system.  More  domestic  animals,  and  larger 
crops  of  grain,  hay,  and  forage  are  what  we  need. 

HOW  ROCKINGHAM  RA>KS 

Based  mainly  on  the  1910  census.  Rank  indicates  how  many  counties 
made  a  better  showing. 

Rank. 

l^lst    in  total  farm  wealth    $6,050,152 

91st    in  farm  wealth  increases.  1900-'10.  per  cent 68.7 

State  increase,  130%- 

87th  in  per  capita  country  wealth $191 

Alleghany.  $560;   State.  $322;  United  States.  $994;  Iowa, 
$3,386.     Per  capita  taxable  wealth,  all  property,  in 
1910,  was  $207;   white  per  capita  taxable  wealth  in 
1910,  $279;   negro  per  capita  taxable  wealth,  $28.80. 
74th  in  negro  farm  owners.     Per  cent  of  all  negro  farmers...  24.0 

State  average,  337f.     Negro  farm  owners  in  Rocking- 
ham, 180.     White  farm  owners  in  Rockingham  were 
51%  of  all  white  farmers;    in  North  Carolina  they 
were  667^. 
19th  in  tax  value  of  farm  land  compared  with  census  value  in 

1910,  per  cent   34.0 

State  average.  38*^^. 
56th  in  white  farm  mortgages,  per  cent 19.0 


State  average  for  whites,  17 


/( ■ 


35th  in  negro  farm  mortgages,  per  cent 23.0 

State  average  for  negroes,  26% ;  for  both  races.  18.5%. 
44th  in  land  under  cultivation;  per  cent  of  the  total  area....  33.8 

State  average,  29%.  Land  under  cultivation.  125.119 
acres.  Idle,  wilderness  acres,  245.441,  or  QQ.2%  of 
the  total  area.  Reserving  50,000  acres  for  wood-lot 
uses  and  allowing  75  acres  to  each  family,  there  is 
room  for  2,606  new  farm  families. 


Farm   Condil ions  and  Practices  39 

34th  in  number  of  farms  3,189 

Average  cultivated  acres  per  farm,  39.2.  Size  of  culti- 
vated farms  larger  in  45  counties.  1.488  farms,  or  a 
little  over  one-half,  are  less  than  fifty  acres  in  size, 
both  cultivated  and  uncultivated  land  considered. 
There  is  room  for  a  IOO'a;  increase  in  the  average 
size  of  farms. 

58th  in  poultry  increase  1900-'10,  per  cent 12.1 

65.072  fowls  of  all  kinds  in  Rockingham  in  1910.  Rank 
in  number  of  fowls  on  hand,  28th. 

36th  in  cattle  per  1,000  acres 26 

State  average,  23;  United  States  average,  61, 

10th  in  cattle  increase,  1900-'10,  per  cent 33.0 

Caldwell  increased  62'// .  State  average  increased  12%. 
In  1860  Rockingham  had  7.018  cattle;  in  1910,  8,586. 

73rd  in  hogs  per  1,000  acres 24 

State  average,  26;  United  States  average,  66;  Iowa,  263. 

71st  in  swine  decrease,  1900-'10,  per  cent 22.0 

69  counties  decreased;  only  28  increased.  In  1860  Rock- 
ingham had  16,151  hogs;  in  1910  only  7,195. 

82nd  in  pork  production  per  inhabitant,  pounds 54.2 

State  average,  93.3.     Needed,  122  lbs. 

9th  in  sheep  gains.  1900-10.  per  cent 22.0 

Total   number  of  sheep   gained,   170,   worth   $612.      In 

1860  Rockingham  had  6,283  sheep;   in  1910  only  959. 

83rd  in  number  of  farm  animals,  per  cent  of  a  lightly  stocked 

farm  area  19.0 

State  average,  24%;  Alleghany,  43%;  Iowa.  877c. 

55th  in  investments  in  farm  implements,  per  acre $2.04 

State  average,  $2.10;  United  States,  $2.52.     The  need  is 
for  larger  farms  and  more  improved  farm  machinery. 
56th  in  horse  power;  one  work-animal  for  an  average  of,  acres  27.13 

State  average.  23;  United  States,  19.81  acres.  Here, 
again,  is  the  need  for  larger  farms  and  more  work- 
animals  per  farm. 

75th  in  farm  tenancy,  per  cent 54.5 

State  average,  42.3%.  Decrease  in  farm  tenancy  in 
Rockingham,  1900-'10.  was  3.2%.  47  counties  de- 
creased in  farm  tenancy.  White  tenants  in  Rocking- 
ham. 1,177;  negro  tenants,  561.  The  landless,  home- 
less white  tenants  and  their  families  number  about 
5,885  souls.  1.605  tenants  are  croppers;  only  108  on 
a  cash  or  standing-rent  basis.  Tenants  raise  tobacco 
mainly  and  neglect  food  and  feed  crops. 

2'nd  in  tobacco  production  in  1910.  pounds 8,279,194 

Per-acre  production.  563  pounds;  rank  43d.  State  aver- 
age, 625  pounds  per  acre. 

26th  in  non-food  crops  produced,  tobacco  mainly $995,385 

Tobacco  and  other  non-food  crops  produced  annually, 
54%  of  total  crop  wealth.  Food  and  feed  crops  pro- 
duced, 46%  of  the  total  crop  values.  State  average 
of  non-food  crops,  53*/^. 


40  Eockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

20th  in  annual  farm  wealth  produced $2,330,409 

This  total  covers  both  crops  and  animal  products. 
Every  five  years  the  farmers  of  Rockingham  produce 
as  much  wealth  as  they  have  been  able  to  accumu- 
late in  the  last  125  years. 

50th  in  crop-yielding  power  per  acre $14.66 

State  average.  $20.18.  Compares  well  with  Missouri. 
$13.96;  Minnesota,  $13.19;  North  Dakota,  $11.10; 
Sout~h  Dakota,  $10.79.  in  1910. 

66th  in  annual  production  of  farm  wealth  per  person $73.70 

State  average.  $85;  average  of  French  farmers.  $126. 

77th  in  food  and  feed  production  per  person $36.00 

Needed,  $84  per  person;   deficit,  $48  per  person;   total 
deficit.  $2,130,780. 
64th  in  food  and  feed  crops;  per  cent  of  the  total  crop  values  46.0 

Alleghany,  98''/c ;  State,  47';'c.  Alleghany  is  the  richest 
county  in  per  capita  country  wealth.  Rockingham 
ranks  87th  in  this  particular. 


Home-Raised  Food  and  the  Local 
Market  Problem 

T.  D.  Stokks,  Riiffin,  X.  C. 

The  tti^  Bulk  Siiortat;^ 

We  find  in  Rockingham  County  that  there  was  a  need  for  food  and 
feed  supplies  in  1910  amounting  to  the  sum  of  $3,466,211,  whereas  we 
produced  food  and  feed  supplies  amounting  to  only  $1,33.5,424,  or  just 
one-third  as  much  as  was  necessary.  In  other  words,  the  food  consumed 
by  man  and  beast  in  Rockingham  in  1910  amounted  to  $2,130,787  more 
than  our  farms  produced.  This  was  our  bill  for  food  supplies  imported 
in  the  census  year.  If  our  farmers  have  not  raised  more  bread  and  meat 
this  year  than  in  1910,  our  bill  for  the  imported  breadstuffs  is  around  five 
million  dollars,  present  prices  considered. 

This  shortage  in  detail  was  1,900,000  pounds  of  meat,  1,186.000  pounds 
of  butter,  205,000  fowls,  271.000  dozen  eggs.  684.000  bushels  of  corn, 
6,405  bushels  of  wheat,  and  5,141  tons  of  hay.  This  enormous  shortage 
in  food  and  feed  supplies  means  that  Rockingham  County  needs  to  wake 
up  or  she  will  lag  hopelessly  behind  in  the  retention  and  accumulation 
of  farm  wealth. 

Too  Little  Home-Raised  Supplies 

A  little  over  one-half  the  total  crop  wealth  produced  in  Rockingham 
year  by  year  is  produced  by  tobacco  alone,  and  this  ratio  has  been 
steadily  increasing  since  1860.  Up  to  the  last  census  year  we  gave 
increasing  attention  to  tobacco  and  decreasing  attention  to  grain  crops, 
live-stock,  hay,  and  forage.  However,  we  have  been  doing  more  live- 
at-home  farming  since  1910.    The  signs  point  that  way. 

In  1910  our  corn  crop  was  15  per  cent  smaller  than  in  1900,  our  oat 
crop  was  19  per  cent  smaller,  and  our  wheat  crop  28  per  cent  smaller. 
During  the  ten  years  we  gained  33  per  cent  in  number  of  cattle,  but  we 
fell  back  23  per  cent  in  the  number  of  our  hogs.  In  1910  we  had  only 
26  cattle  and  24  hogs  to  the  1,000  acres,  and  a  need  for  1,900,000  pounds 
more  meat  than  we  produced. 

The  population  in  Rockingham  increases  rapidly.  It  has  nearly 
quadrupled  in  50  years,  but  our  cattle  are  only  21  per  cent  more.  The 
truth  is  that  our  population  is  increasing  faster  than  our  production 
of  food — in  the  number  of  cattle,  12  times  faster;  and  so  of  every  other 
food.  And  yet  last  year  ten  Corn  Club  boys  in  Rockingham  averaged 
47.2  bushels  to  the  acre  at  a  cost  of  43  cents  a  bushel.    At  this  rate  the 


42  Eochinghatn  County:  Economic  and  Social 

grown-ups  could  have  produced  1,702,774  bushels  on  the  corn  acreage 
of  the  county,  or  enough  for  home  use  and  almost  a  half  million  bushels 
over  for  the  market. 

Raising  corn  at  home  at  this  figure  beats  importing  684,000  bushels 
at  $2  a  bushel. 

The  Farm  Tenancy  and  the  (.'roy  Lien  Eyil 

In  1910  more  than  half  or  54.5  per  cent  of  our  farms  were  cultivated 
by  tenants.  And  farm  tenancy .-linder  the  crop  lien  system  in  the  South 
means  more  cotton  and  tobacco  and  less  attention  to  grain,  hay,  and 
forage,  fruits,  nuts,  and  vegetables,  poultry  and  dairy  products,  and  to 
beef,  mutton,  and  pork  production. 

In  Rockingham  the  annual  consumption  of  these  products  amounts 
to  about  three  and  a  half  million  dollars,  but  our  farms  produce  only 
one  and  a  third  million  dollars  worth  of  them;  and  so  we  sent  out  of 
the  county  a  king's  ransom,  amounting  to  more  than  two  million  dollars, 
for  food  and  feed  supplies  that  we  might  have  raised  at  home,  and  by 
just  so  much  did  we  decrease  our  power  to  accumulate  wealth. 

The  Penalties  We  Pay 

As  a  result,  our  per  capita  country  wealth  in  Rockingham  in  the 
census  year  was  only  $191,  against  $322  for  the  State,  $560  for  Alle- 
ghany County,  $994  for  the  United  States,  $2,665  in  Illinois,  and  $3,386 
in  Iowa. 

//Although  Rockingham  ranks  thirty-first  among  the  counties  in  North 
Carolina  in  per  acre  production  of  crop  values  from  year  to  year,  our 
rank  in  per  capita  country  wealth  was  only  eighty-seventh.  Alleghany 
County,  which  raises  no  cotton  and  almost  no  tobacco,  heads  the  list. 

The  county  suffers  a  steady  loss  of  ready  cash  amounting  to  some 
two  million  dollars  a  year.  This  simple  fact  explains  why  the  food- 
producing  farmers  of  the  Middle  West  grow  rich  and  the  cotton  and 
tobacco  farmers  of  Rockingham  and  the  South  remain  poor.  It  also 
explains  in  part  the  high  cost  of  living  in  the  towns  and  cities  in  the 
tobacco  belt,  and  the  high  cost  of  living  hinders  industrial  development 
because  it  calls  for  higher  wages,  and  higher  wages  add  to  the  labor 
cost  of  factory  production — a  fact  that  we  can  well  afford  to  consider. 

Keidsville's  Interest  in  the  Prohlem 

Reidsville,  like  every  other  town  and  city,  is  interested  in  the  local 
market  problem,  because,  in  the  first  place,  it  concerns  the  increasing 
high  cost  of  living.  The  whole  world  faces  this  primary  problem  today, 
because  once  more  in  the  round  of  history  population  presses  upon  the 
food  supply.  The  cost  of  foodstuffs  is  higher  everywhere  while  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  dollar  is  less.     Today  it  is  barely  half  of  what  it 


v^ 


Home-Raised  Food  and  ilie  Local  Market  Problem  43 

was  four  years  ago;  that  is  to  say,  fifty  cents  then  would  buy  as  much 
food  as  a  dollar  will  buy  today.  Higher  costs  of  living  compel  higher 
wages,  as  Adam  Smith  saw  a  century  or  so  ago.  Higher  wages  mean 
an  increase  in  the  labor  cost  of  production.  When  production  costs 
increase,  dividends  on  capital  dwindle  or  disappear.  Nobody  has  a 
more  direct  relationship  to  the  problem  of  local  markets  for  home-raised 
food  supplies  than  our  mill  owners,  and  nobody  ought  to  have  a  livelier 
interest  in  it. 

Imported  Breadstiifis  and  Inflafcd  Bills 

If  Reidsville  and  Rockingham  must  depend  upon  the  far-away  pro- 
ducers of  food  and  feed  supplies  to  the  extent  of  two  million,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  thousand  a  year,  the  overhead  charges  of  transportation 
and  handling  by  a  swarming  multitude  of  middlemen  will  of  course  add 
enormously  to  the  cost  of  farm  and  pantry  supplies. 

Eockiiig:ham's  Crop-rrodiuing  I'ower 

Our  farmers  can  produce  all  the  standard  crops  and  all  the  animal 
products  needed  for  consumption  in  Rockingham  County.  Our  soils  are 
as  good  as  any  to  be  found  in  the  State  and  are  easy  to  make  fertile. 
Our  Corn  Club  boys  averaged  48  bushels  to  the  acre  in  1917,  and  the 
county  could  easily  produce  com  enough  and  to  spare.  We  have  in  the 
past  depended  upon  the  West  for  flour  when  we  can  raise  wheat  at 
home  and  do  it  as  cheaply  as  any  county  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Our 
annual  flour  bill  has  been  an  enormous  drain  on  our  ready  cash.  This 
situation  is  produced  in  the  main  by  tobacco  farming  on  a  farm-tenancy, 
supply-merchant,  crop-lien  basis.  And  it  is  a  farm  system  that  must 
be  abandoned  if  conditions  are  to  be  improved. 

Poor  Market  Facilities 

We  have  ready  cash  markets  for  tobacco,  but  not  for  home-raised 
food  and  feed  supplies.  The  farmer  must  peddle  his  vegetables,  fruits, 
butter  and  eggs,  meat  and  poultry,  from  door  to  door  or  sell  them  to  a 
merchant  at  shamefully  low  prices,  Often  when  he  cannot  sell  to  any 
one  he  will  leave  his  perishable  products  with  the  merchant  to  dispose 
of  at  any  price  obtainable,  as  it  would  be  a  complete  loss  to  take  them 
back  home.  The  producers  and  consumers  are  not  organized  in  ways 
advantageous  to  both.  They  are  as  far  apart  as  though  they  lived  on 
different  planets.  The  producers  and  consumers  of  Rockingham  suffer 
from  the  Iron  Law  of  Trade  as  do  any  other  people.  This  law  is:  keep 
producers  and  consumers  as  far  apart  as  possible,  pass  economic  goods 
from  the  one  to  the  other  through  as  many  hands  as  possible,  charge 
consumers  as  much  as  possible  and  pay  producers  as  little  as  possible. 
As  long  as  this  law  is  in  full  operation  in  Rockingham  everybody  will 


44  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

suffer.  It  can  be  broken  down  only  by  union  and  cooperation.  Where 
there  is  a  disunion  and  collision  both  producers  and  consumers  are 
punished.  The  producer  gets  too  little  for  his  products,  the  consumer 
gets  too  little  for  his  money,  while  the  middlemen  get  the  lion's  share 
of  the  wealth  the  farmers  produce. 

Doubling  Our  Farm  Wealth 

But,  leaving  town  consumers  out  of  the  question,  our  farmers  can  and 
ought  to  raise  the  supplies  that  they  themselves  need  from  year  to  year 
to  feed  their  own  families  and  farm  animals.  If  only  the  farmers  could 
or  would  stop  spending  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  these 
things,  the  farm  wealth  of  Rockingham  would  be  doubled  in  the  next 
few  years.  That  is  to  say,  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  census 
year  is  what  the  farmers  themselves  spent  for  imported  bread  and 
meat.  The  same  kind  of  farmers  will  this  year  send  out  of  the  county 
twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Our  farmers  will  always  need  to  raise  tobacco,  but  while  they  do  it 
they  must  be  Avise  enough  to  have  their  pantries,  barns,  and  smokehouses 
filled  with  their  own  home-raised  supplies. 

The  Acid  Test  of  Success 

The  local  market  problem  created  by  the  demand  for  breadstuffs  at 
high  prices  and  the  failure  of  near-by  farmers  to  supply  the  demand  is 
a  perplexing  problem  in  every  city  center  in  America. 

The  law  of  markets  is  greed  for  gain.  It  is  the  tooth-and-claw  struggle 
for  prices  and  profits.  The  primary  law  of  human  nature  organizes  a 
world-wide  market  for  cotton  and  tobacco,  and  at  the  same  time  and  for 
the  same  reason  it  denies  to  the  consumers  and  producers  of  bread- 
stuffs,  living  side  by  side  in  the  same  county,  an  opportunity  for  direct 
dealings  with  mutual  advantage. 

The  Solution  of  the  Problem 

Greed  safely  counts  upon  the  dull  unconcern  of  both  consumers  and 
producers.  But  at  last  city  consumers  awake  to  the  fact  that  the 
cost  of  living  is  a  great  national  problem.  Farmers  discover  that  the 
prices  of  food  products  to  consumers  have  risen  enormously  but  that 
their  own  farm  profits  are  no  more  or  little  more  than  they  were  fifteen 
years  ago.  The  simple  fact  is  that  consumers  and  producers  are  too 
far  apart  and  the  cost  of  marketing  is  too  great. 

How  great  the  cost  of  marketing  is  can  be  shown  from  figures  com- 
piled by  the  Citrus  Fruit  Growers  Association  of  California.  These 
growers  have  done  everything  in  their  power  to  reduce  the  middlemen 
to  a  minimum  and  to  pass  the  fruit  from  producers  to  consumers  with 


Homc-Baised  Food  and  the  Local  Market  Problem  45 

as  little  cost  as  possible.  Yet.  even  with  all  their  wonderful  organiza- 
tion and  business  skill,  they  found  that  the  part  of  the  consumer's 
dollar  that  got  back  to  the  producer  was  only  twenty-eight  cents,  while 
the  middlemen — the  packers  and  pickers,  transporters  and  merchants — 
got  seventy-two  cents  of  it.  The  hard  fact  about  marketing  is  that  it 
costs  more  to  get  agricultural  products  from  original  producers  to  final 
consumers  than  it  costs  to  produce  them  on  the  farm.  This  is  especially 
true  of  fruits  and  vegetables. 

The  problem  is  to  get  producers  and  consumers  together;  the  prin- 
ciple of  action  lies  in  cooperation,  and  success  is  achieved  when  farmers 
get  more  for  their  products  and  consumers  get  more  for  their  money. 
If  the  farmers  do  not  get  more,  and  if  at  the  same  time  the  consumers 
do  not  pay  less,  then  the  problem  is  not  solved,  no  matter  how  elaborate 
the  attempt  or  expensive  the  market  house. 

Cooporatioii  »cessary 

Producers  alone  cannot  solve  the  market  problem.  Success  calls  for 
the  direct  cooperation  of  consumers;  and  in  big-sale  marketing  it  in- 
variably calls  for  and  depends  upon  the  credit  accommodation  of  the 
banks.  If  consumers  are  unconcerned  and  unorganized,  or  if  banks 
and  transportation  companies  are  neglectful  or  hostile,  then  the  farmer's 
chance  of  success  is  reduced  to  zero.  Success  lies  in  collusion,  not  in 
collision;  in  cooperaiton,  not  in  contest. 

Texas  Leads 

Texas  has  taken  a  long  step  forward  in  solving  her  local  market 
problems;  and  one  of  the  many  things  she  does  with  the  help  of  her 
boards  of  trade  is  to  maintain  free  telephone  market  information  ex- 
changes in  charge  of  officials  whose  business  it  is  to  give  reliable  disin- 
terested market  news  to  farmers  and  city  dwellers,  and  to  bring  pro- 
ducers and  consumers  together  in  direct  dealings. 

At  present,  in  North  Carolina  and  in  Rockingham  County  neither  the 
consumers  nor  producers  know  definitely  the  wants,  tastes,  and  standards 
of  the  other. 

Tlie  City  End  of  the  Problem 

"Success  in  the  undertaking  calls,  first  of  all,  for  the  marketing  habit 
on  the  part  of  housewives,  and  then  for  well  managed,  centrally  located 
markets  with  cold  storage  chambers  for  perishable  products;  for  credit 
accommodations  on  stored  products  when  needed;  for  ample  market 
space  for  free,  open-air  trading;  for  convenient  hitching  grounds,  camp- 
ing sheds,  and  feeding  stalls;  for  indications  of  city  hospitality— rest- 
rooms  with  lavatory  and  toilet  conveniences,  chairs,  tables,  books,  maga- 
zines, and  newspapers;   for  a  free  telephone  market  exchange  in  the 


46  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

city  hall  or  the  chamber  of  commerce,  operated  by  a  competent  official 
whose  business  it  is  to  acquaint  consumers  with  the  sources  of  the 
neighborhood  supply,  and  to  advise  the  farmers  about  the  wants, 
standards,  and  tastes  of  city  consumers;  and  finally,  for  a  cooperative 
city  delivery  service."  "These,"  says  Professor  Branson,  "are  some  of 
the  plans  and  projects  that  I  find  in  various  alert  city  centers." 

What  the  Banks  Can  Do 

Texas  banks  are  refusing  loans  to  supply-merchants  who  do  a  crop- 
lien  business  protected  by  cotton  acreage  alone.  They  have  a  half-and- 
half  system.  They  stipulate  a  minimum  acreage  which  must  be  devoted 
to  food  production,  and  farmers  are  required  to  raise  specified  amounts 
of  food  and  feed  on  this  acreage.  They  are  doing  this  to  force  the 
supply-merchants  to  force  the  farmers  to  raise  a  sufficiency  of  meat 
and  food  on  every  farm.  It  is  sound  sense  and  safe  business  policy, 
they  say,  to  keep  in  Texas  the  298  million  dollars  that  has  been  leaving 
the  State  every  year  heretofore  to  pay  bills  for  imported  food  products. 

This  policy  insures  a  food-producing  farm  civilization,  and  this  means 
prosperity.  It  also  means  bigger,  safer,  better  business  for  supply- 
merchants  and  bankers. 

This  same  system  could  be  put  to  work  in  this  State,  especially  in  our 
cotton  and  tobacco  counties,  where  conditions  are  similar  to  those  in 
Texas. 

We  have  proved  to  the  world  if  not  to  ourselves  that  we  cannot  accumu- 
late country  wealth  under  our  present  cash-crop,  supply-merchant,  crop- 
lien,  time-price  system.  We  stay  poor  buying  farm  supplies  with 
tobacco  money,  while  the  Western  farmers  get  rich  buying  our  tobacco 
and  selling  us  bread  and  meat.  The  bankers  of  a  community  can  do 
more  in  a  single  year  to  place  tobacco  culture  on  a  live-at-home  basis 
than  the  farm  demonstrator  can  do  in  a  lifetime,  and  they  can  do  it 
almost  by  lifting  or  lowering  their  eyebrows.  All  they  need  to  do  is  to 
refuse  to  discount  the  supplj'-merchant's  crop  liens  when  based  on 
tobacco  acreage  alone.    It  is  the  Texas  way,  and  it  works  in  Texas. 

The  Farmer's  End  of  the  Problem 

On  the  other  hand,  our  farmers  must  not  only  produce  food  and  feed 
sufficient  for  farm  consumption,  but  this  year  they  need  to  produce  three 
and  a  quarter  million  dollars  worth  more  for  the  city  consumers  in 
Rockingham  County  alone.  They  must  know  more  about  market  de- 
mands. They  must  not  all  dump  their  food  products  on  a  small  market 
at  one  time.  What  they  offer  in  competition  with  the  big  wide  world 
must  taste  as  good  and  look  as  attractive  as  imported  food  products. 
They  must  become  expert  in  handling,  grading,  picking,  and  crating. 
They  must  produce  meat,  grain,  and  hay,  butter,  and  eggs  in  steady 


Home-Raised  Food  and  the  Local  Market  Problem  4t7 

reliable  sufficiencies,  and  stand  ready  to  supply  market  demands  just 
as  Western  markets  do  upon  sudden  notice. 

The  blame  for  the  present  sad  and  sorry  state  of  affairs  in  Rocking- 
ham must  be  laid  upon  the  farmers  as  well  as  upon  the  consumers  and 
bankers.  But  it  is  this  year  a  four  and  a  half  million-dollar  proposition 
in  Rockingham,  and  it  is  worth  solving. 

H0.ME.RALSK1>  KOOHS 

Facts  mainly  from  the  1910  census.  Rank  indicates  the  number  of 
counties  that  make  a  better  showing. 

Rank. 

27th  in  corn  production,  total  crop,  bushels 445,223 

Robeson  ranked  first,  with  1,142.000  bushels.  Ten 
years  decrease  in  corn  production,  1900-'10,  was  82,- 
487  bushels,  or  15  per  cent.  Rockingham  ranked 
70th  in  this  particular.  In  1860  Rockingham  pro 
duced  364.790  bushels. 

79th  in  corn  production  per  person,  bushels 12.83 

Needed  per  inhabitant  per  year,  31  bushels;  deficit  per 
inhabitant,  19  bushels.  State  average.  15  bushels  per 
person. 

16th  in  wheat  produced  per  person,  bushels 3.83 

Needed,  4  bushels  per  person;  deficit  per  person,  .17 
bushels;  total  deficit,  6,401  bushels.  Only  15  counties 
in  1910  raised  wheat  surpluses.  Ten-year  increase  in 
wheat  production,  1900-'10,  was  28  per  cent.  In  1860 
Rockingham  produced  97,512  bushels,  in  1910  139,363 
bushels. 

35th  in  oats  production,  total  crop,  bushels 35,282 

The  oats  raised  amounted  to  1.3  pints  per  work  animal 
per  day;  rank  35th.  Ten-year  decrease  in  oats  pro- 
duction, 1900-'10,  was  19  per  cent;  rank  in  this  par- 
ticular, 64th.  In  1860  Rockingham  produced  91,349 
bushels  of  oats. 

24th  in  hay  and  forage  production,  total  crop,  tons 4,580 

Ten-year  increase,  1900-'10,  was  18  per  cent;  rank  72'nd. 
The  hay  and  forage  production  amounted  to  5.4 
pounds  per  work-animal  per  day;  needed,  10  pounds 
per  work-animal. 

48th  in  per  cent  of  farmers  buying  feed 32 

1,514  farms,  or  nearly  one-third  of  them  all,  bought 
feed,  averaging  $30.20  per  farm. 

64th  in  beef  production  per  person,  pounds 18 

State  average,  33.8  pounds. 

82nd  in  pork  production  per  person,  pounds 54.2 

State  average,  93  pounds.  State  average  of  hogs  sold 
and  slaughtered.  .47  of  a  hog.  United  States  aver- 
age, 1.57  hogs;  Iowa.  2.72  hogs  per  person.  Needed 
for   farm    consumption,    122   pounds   per   inhabitant. 


48  Eockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

32nd  in  poultry  production  per  person,  fowls 7.48 

Needed,  13  fowls  per  person  per  year;  deficit,  5.52  fowls 
p.er  person;  total  deficit,  201,038  fowls. 
35th  in  increase  of  farm  sales  of  dairy  products,  per  cent.  .  . .  229 

Total  sales  in  1910  were  $21,730.  State  increase  was 
146  per  cent.  Rockingham  produced  15  pounds  of 
butter  per  person;  rank  40th.  The  average  amount 
needed  was  48  pounds  per  person  per  year;  the  per 
capita  deficit  was  33  pounds;  total  deficit,  1,186,000 
pounds. 
83rd  in  farm  animals,  per  cent  of  a  lightly  stocked  farm  area.  19 

Camden  and  Hyde  first  with  47  per  cent;  Cumberland 
last  with  14  per  cent;  State  average,  24  per  cent. 

42nd  in  livestock  products,  per  person $16.00 

Alleghany,  $65;  State  average,  $17.  Per  capita  crop 
production  in  Rockingham  was  $50;  total  farm 
wealth  produced  was  $66  per  person;  average  of 
French  farmers  was  $126  per  person. 


THE  LOCAL  MARKET  PROBLEM 

1.  Food  and  Feed: 

Needed— 36,442'  people  @   $84.00   $3,061,128 

5,327  work  animals  @   $39.39 209.831 

5.378  dairy   cows    @    $18.55 99,742 

4,433  other  cattle  @   8.09 35,862 

8,651  swine  @  $6.69   57,876 

956  sheep  @   $1.79    1,771 

Total  food  and  feed  needed $3,466,211 

2.  Produced: 

Food  and  feed  crops   $    839,540 

Dairy  products    131,558 

Poultry  products  ^  . .  . .      131,367 

Honey  and  wax  5.163 

Wool  and  mohair   477 

Animals  sold  and  slaughtered 227,319 

Total  food  and  feed  produced 1,335.424 

Shortage  in  home-raised  food  and  feed  supplies $2,130,787 

3.  Distribution  of  Food  and  Feed  Shortage:  Pounds. 

(1)  Meat  needed  for  36.442  people  @  152  pounds 5,539.184 

produced  904  calves  @  150  lbs 135,450 

1,726  cattle  @  300  lbs 517,800 

272.708  poultry   @   4  lbs 1,090.832 

9.885  hogs    @    190    lbs 1,888.150 

184  sheep  and  goats  @  50  lbs..  9,200 

Total  home-produced  meat   3,641,432 

Deficit   1,897,752 

Pounds. 

(2)  Butter  needed  for  36,442  people  @  48  pounds 1,749,216 

produced    562,729 

deficit   1,186,487 


Home-Raised  Food  and  the  Local  Market  Problem  49 

Foivls. 

(3)  Fowls  needed  for  36.442  people  @  13 473,746 

produced    272,708 

deficit   205,038 

Dozen. 

(4)  Eggs  needed  for  36,442  people  @  17  dozen 619,514 

produced    348,394 

deficit   271,12:0 

Bushels. 

(5)  Corn  needed  for  36,442  people  @  31  bushels 1,129,702 

produced    445.223 

deficit   684,479 

Bushels. 

(6)  Wheat  needed  for  36,442  people  @  4  bushels 145.768 

produced    139,363 

deficit   6,405 

Tons. 

(7)  Hay  and  forage  needed  for  5,327  work  animals 9,721 

produced    4.580 

deficit    5,141 


Note. — The  figures  for  average  annual  consumption  are  the  figures 
given  out  by  the  Federal  Agricultural  Department;  also  the  cost  prices, 
which  refer  to  1910.  The  cost  prices  in  1918  are  in  most  instances 
doubled,  in  many  instances  they  are  trebled  since  1910. 


Agricultural  Production:  Non-Food  Crops 

T.  D.  Stokes,  Ruffin,  N.  C. 

By  non-food  crops  the  census  means  crops  that  do  not  serve  as  food 
for  man  or  beast.  The  main  crop  of  this  sort  in  Rockingham  is  tobacco. 
Tobacco  is  the  most  important  single  source  of  revenue  to  the  Rock- 
ingham farmer,  and  its  importance  is  increasing  year  by  year. 

The  value  of  the  tobacco  produced  in  Rockingham  in  1910  was  54  per 
cent  of  the  total  crop  wealth  produced  in  the  county  in  that  year.  Only 
34  counties  produced  larger  ratios  of  non-food  crops;  which  is  to  say, 
only  65  counties  produced  smaller  ratios  of  food  crops — wheat,  corn, 
hay  forage,  and  the  like. 

Tobacco 

Tobacco  production  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  Rockingham  since 
the  War  Between  the  States.  During  this  period  tobacco  culture  has 
steadily  moved  southeastwardly  across  the  cotton  belt  into  Wilson, 
Pitt,  Greene,  and  Lenoir,  and  along  the  cotton  belt  into  Sampson  and 
Robeson.  The  main  tobacco  producing  counties  of  this  State  were  once 
the  counties  bordering  on  the  Virginia  line  from  Surry  eastward  to 
Warren.  Tobacco  still  has  a  large  place  in  the  production  of  farm  wealth 
in  Rockingham  and  other  counties  in  this  portion  of  the  State.  Rock- 
ingham once  led  the  State  in  tobacco  production.  In  1910  Pitt  was  in 
the  lead  with  Rockingham  second. 

In  1860  we  produced  3,158,333  pounds.  In  1879  we  produced  4,341,259 
pounds,  and  in  1909  we  produced  8,279,194  pounds.  In  thirty  years  we 
nearly  doubled  our  production  of  tobacco,  you  see. 

Keeping  Home-Made  "Wealth  at  Home 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  farmers  of  Rockingham  have  profited 
by  raising  tobacco.  This  non-food  crop  serves  as  an  important  source 
of  cash  income.  But  it  is  folly  for  a  farmer  to  raise  tobacco  to  the 
neglect  of  food  and  feed  crops.  Tobacco  rewards  the  farmer  when  it'  is 
produced  on  a  bread-and-meat  basis,  and  not  otherwise.  We  have  tried 
for  a  half  century  to  get  rich  buying  farm  supplies  with  tobacco  money. 
Man  for  man,  the  farmers  of  86  other  counties  are  richer  in  farm 
properties. 

We  do  not  urge  or  advocate  any  neglect  of  tobacco,  but  we  do  urge  the 
wisdom  of  greater  attention  to  food  and  feed  crops  and  to  live-stock.  As 
a  policy  of  sensible  self-defense  if  not  profits,  our  farmers  today  will  do 
well  to  employ  their  idle  hours  and  idle  acres  in  the  production  of  food 
and  feed  supplies,  instead  of  importing  these  over  a  thousand  miles  of 


Agricultural  Production:  Non-Food  Crops 


51 


railway  and  through  the  hands  of  countless  middlemen,  each  of  whom 
must  add  to  the  consumer's  bill  because  each  must  have  his  profit.  It 
would  be  foolish  to  neglecl  the  present  money  crop;  but  it  is  also  foolish 
to  neglect  bread-and-meat  crops  and  to  spend  practically  all  of  our 
tobacco  money  year  by  year,  buying  food  and  feed  to  raise  tobacco.  It 
is  a  vicious  circle,  and  going  the  round  of  it  year  in  and  year  out  keeps 

our  farmers  poor. 

The  man  that  raises  food  and  feed  along  with  his  tobacco  is  invariably 
in  a  better  financial  condition  than  his  neighbor  who  raises  tobacco 
and  buys  food  and  feed.  The  reason  this  is  so  is  evident.  Experiments 
made  by  the  Government  have  proved  that  hay.  forage,  corn,  pork,  and 
beef  can  be  produced  in  the  South  today  more  cheaply  than  in  the  West. 
If  the  farmer  raises  his  own  staple  supplies  he  saves  the  middleman  e 
profit  and  increases  the  size  of  his  pocketbook  and  bank  account.  And 
clearly  he  is  wise  to  do  so  when  he  can  produce  these  supplies  for  less 
money  than  they  cost  him  in  the  stores. 

There  was  a  time  just  after  the  war  when  it  paid  him  to  buy  from  the 
West  because  they  farmed  extensively  with  labor-saving  machinery  and 
produced  foodstuffs  more  cheaply  than  we  could.  But  that  day  has 
long  since  passed,  apparently  never  to  return.  We  can  now  produce 
bread  and  meat  more  cheaply  than  the  Western  farmers  can.  We  must 
raise  tobacco,  but  also  we  must  use  the  extra  hours  and  the  idle  acres 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  farm  supplies  at  home.  It  is  a  sure  way 
to  produce  fat  pocketbooks.  The  farmer  that  cannot  or  will  not  convert 
into  gold  the  opportunity  now  offered  by  the  war-time  prices  of  food 
supplies  is  missing  the  greatest  chance  he  has  ever  had  in  the  South  in 
her  whole  history. 

How  Don  Seitz  Sees  It 

Don  Seitz  the  business  manager  of  the  Neio  York  World,  and  the 
best-known  man  of  his  profession  in  the  country,  gave  the  editors  of 
North  Carolina  at  their  institute  here  at  the  University  a  year  ago  some 
sound  advice  along  this  line.  He  said  once  he  had  an  editor  to  ask 
him  why  his  town  did  not  grow  and  prosper  as  the  other  towns  did. 
Mr  Seitz  said  he  found  out  from  a  banker  that  this  man's  town  sent  out 
of  its  territory  $150,000  a  year  for  food  and  feed  supplies  bought  with 
money  made  from  cash  sales  of  non-food  products.  He  told  the  editors 
the  trouble  and  the  editors  told  the  people.  Matters  were  adjusted,  food 
and  feed  were  raised  at  home,  and  the  town  began  to  prosper  by  leaps 
and  bounds.  Whv?  Because  the  $150,000  remained  at  home  to  enrich 
the  communitv  in  which  it  was  made,  as  before  it  had  been  going  to 
enrich  other  places  that  had  produced  what  could  be  produced  at  home. 

It  is  impracticable  or  even  impossible  for  any  farmer  or  community 
to  be  wholly  self-supporting,  but  it  should  be  self-supporting  in  so  far  as 


52  Rockingham,  County:  Economic  and  Social 

economic  advantage  favors  it.  Mr.  Don  Seitz,  of  the  New  York  World, 
says  that  people  argue  to  him  that  railroads  won't  prosper  if  the  people 
live  at  home. 

"Well,"  says  he,  "what  interest  have  you  in  the  railroads  or  what 
interest  have  they  in  you  except  in  so  far  as  they  can  enrich  their 
coffers  at  your  expense?  We  have  too  long  supported  railroads  at  our 
loss,  and  in  many  ways  they  are  becoming  an  unnecessary  nuisance." 
If  the  advice  of  Mr.  Seitz  and  a  vast  number  of  economists  is  followed, 
Rockingham  as  well  as  the  South  will  make  more  rapid  progress  in  the 
future  than  in  the  past. 

Our  1918  motto  ought  to  be:  "Food,  feed,  and  fertility  first;  and  then 
all  the  tobacco  we  have  time  to  raise." 


Our  Public  School  Rank  and  Progress 

E.  F.  Duncan,  Mayodan,  N.  C. 

My  endeavor  in  this  chapter  is  to  show,  briefly  and  clearly,  (1)  how 
Rockingham  compares  with  the  rest  of  the  State  in  certain  essential 
particulars  of  public  education,  and  (2)  how  she  compares  with  herself 
in  a  seven-year  period,  frorii  1908-09  to  1915-16,  and  what  gains  she  has 
made  during  this  time  in  her  public  schools.  I  am  centering  attention 
on  our  rural  school  status  and  progress,  because  our  brisk  and  enter- 
prising little  cities,  in  Rockingham  as  in  every  other  county  of  the  State, 
are  forging  ahead  in  school  buildings,  local  school  tax  levies,  length  of 
school  terms,  and  in  general  excellence  of  school  facilities.  Our  country 
communities  are  doing  well,  as  we  shall  show  in  detail,  but  they  are  lag- 
ging behind  our  towns  in  school  advantages. 

For  instance,  47  of  our  white  country  schools  are  one-room,  one- 
teacher  schools,  and  the  average  length  of  the  county  school  term  is 
only  113  days,  or  67  days  less  than  the  school  term  in  Reidsville.  Every 
other  detail  shows  the  disadvantages  of  our  country  school  children. 
Their  brains  and  fingers  are  just  as  nimble  and  capable  as  those  of  our 
town  children,  and  they  ought  to  have  just  as  good  a  chance.  A  square 
deal  and  a  fair  chance  for  the  country  children  of  Rockingham  is  what 
I  have  uppermost  in  mind. 

This  discussion  is  based  on  tables  that  can  be  found  as  usual  at  the 
end  of  the  chapter. 

How  We  Rank 

In  1910,  only  30  counties  stood  ahead  of  us  in  total  actual  farm  wealth, 
while  in  total  taxable  wealth  in  1916  only  18  counties  made  a  better 
showing;  which  means  that  Rockingham  is  among  the  20  richest  coun- 
ties in  North  Carolina. 

On  the  whole,  our  rank  in  school  property  is  on  a  level  with  our  rank 
in  wealth.  Just  as  we  stood  19th  in  total  taxables  in  1916,  so  we  stood 
19th  in  total  school  property.  In  the  matter  of  country  school  property 
alone  we  moved  up  to  the  eleventh  place,  which  is  to  say,  only  10  other 
counties  had  a  larger  total  investment  in  country  school  property  in 
1916  than  Rockingham  had. 

That  looks  good;  but  it  might  easily  be  better.  For  instance,  our  per 
capita  investment  in  school  property,  both  town  and  country,  was  only 
$4.16,  and  forty-two  other  counties  made  a  better  showing,  while  our 
wealth  in  automobiles  was  $15.56  per  inhabitant  or  nearly  four  times 
as  much.  Only  twenty-seven  counties  in  the  State  are  richer  than  Rock- 
ingham in  motor-car  wealth. 


54  Rockingham  County :  Economic  and  Social 

Moreover,  the  cost  of  running  our  public  schools  averaged  only  $2.58 
per  inhabitant  in  1915-16,  in  which  particular  thirty-five  counties  made 
a  better  showing.  The  per  capita  cost  of  running  our  automobiles  the 
same  year  was  $4.74.  Which  means  that  it  costs  us  nearly  twice  as 
much  to  run  our  automobiles  as  it  does  to  run  our  schools. 

I  say  we  might  easily  have  better  country  schools,  because  in  1916 
our  combined  tax  rate  for  all  purposes,  State  and  county,  was  only  98 
cents  on  the  hundred  dollars  worth  of  taxable  property.  Forty-eight 
counties  carried  a  heavier  tax  burden.  There  is  ample  room  in  Rock- 
ingham for  a  30-cent  county-wide  local  tax  levy  for  school  support — 
such  a  levy  as  Beaufort  and  Wilson  counties  have  just  voted.  Even 
then  there  would  be  sixteen  counties  with  heavier  tax  levies  for  all 
purposes.  Indeed,  a  30-cent  school  tax  levy  would  give  Rockingham 
almost  exactly  the  rank  in  tax  burdens  that  she  holds  at  present  in 
total  taxable  wealth. 

A  county  that  spends  nearly  twice  as  much  per  inhabitant  to  run  its 
motor  cars  as  ft  does  to  run  its  schools  is  rich  enough  to  double  its 
school  support  with  comparative  ease. 

The  need  for  an  immense  increase  in  school  support  lies  (1)  in  the 
white  illiteracy  that  affects  our  county,  and  (2)  in  the  steady  cityward 
drift  of  our  country  people  and  the  need  of  good  country  schools  as  an 
effective  country-life  defense. 

1.  Nearly  an  eighth  of  all  our  whites  10  years  old  and  over  are 
afflicted  with  sheer  illiteracy,  and  52  counties  made  a  better  showing  in 
1910;  while  a  full  seventh  of  our  white  males  of  voting  age  could  neither 
write  their  names  nor  read  their  ballots,  and  57  counties  made  a  better 
showing.  These  are  white  illiterates,  mind  you;  our  own  color,  kith, 
kin,  and  kind.  The  near-illiterates — the  people  who  can  read  and  don't 
read,  who  can  think  and  don't  think — are  probably  a  much  larger  com- 
pany of  souls  in  Rockingham.  Together,  our  illiterate  and  semi-illiter- 
ate whites  are  a  dead  weight  in  our  developing  democracy.  They  cripple 
and  retard  every  forward  movement.  They  can  always  be  hoodwinked 
by  designing  political  tricksters  and  massed  against  any  measure  of 
reform  or  prosperity  or  patriotism — against  tax  reforms,  or  local  school 
taxes,  or  the  war,  or  Liberty  Bonds,  the  Red  Cross,  the  Army  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
or  better  church  and  Sunday  school  support — against  any  worthy  cause 
whatsoever. 

We  must  sponge  the  shame  of  illiteracy  off  the  map  of  Rockingham, 
and  we  must  put  the  fire  and  fervor  of  religious  zeal  into  the  task.  And 
it  is  a  task  for  preachers  and  Sunday  school  teachers  as  well  as  day- 
school  teachers  and  school  officials.  The  churches  of  Rockingham  need 
more  members  and  the  country  needs  more  home-owning  farmers;  but 
illiteracy  multiplies  the  number  of  landless,  homeless  people,  while 
illiteracy  and  tenancy  together  reduce  church  membership  to  a  mini- 
mum.   A  little  more  than  half  or  54  per  cent  of  all  our  farmers  are  crop- 


Our  Fuhlir  Srhoal   Uitnk  mul   I'logress  55 

pers  and  tenants,  and  nearly  two-thirds  or  62  per  cent  of  all  our  people 
ten  years  old  and  over  are  members  of  no  church  of  any  name,  sect,  or 
sort  in  Rockingham.  Seventy-four  counties  make  a  better  showing  in 
ownership  farming  and  eighty-five  a  better  showing  in  church  mem- 
bership. 

So  much  to  indicate  the  importance  of  our  illiteracy  problem.  The 
situation  calls  for  better  schools,  for  better  compulsory  attendance  laws, 
or  for  a  more  courageous  enforcement  of  the  laws  we  already  have. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  best  country-life  defense  that  a  county 
can  have  is  the  best  country  schools  it  can  afford  to  support,  and  Rock- 
ingham needs  this  defense,  for  several  reasons.  Our  country  people  are 
moving  out  of  our  countryside  in  steadily  increasing  numbers  year  by 
year.  Between  1900  and  1910  almost  exactly  a  tenth  of  our  negroes  dis- 
appeared. Since  the  war  they  have  gone  out  of  the  country  even  more 
rapidly  into  the  mines,  railway  gangs,  munition  plants,  and  cities  of  the 
North.  During  this  period  our  rural  population  increase  was  very 
small — only  5.7  per  cent — but  since  1910  the  population  of  our  mill  and 
factory  towns  has  grown  from  7,230  to  20,000  or  more.  This  increase  of 
our  town  population  has  come  almost  entirely  from  the  surrounding 
country  regions,  and  mainly  it  has  consisted  of  alert-minded  tenants  and 
their  families,  and  less  often  of  small  home-owning  farmers. 

The  cityward  drift  of  country  people  means  decreasing  farm  labor  and 
more  idle,  wilderness  acres.  It  tends  toward  stagnation  in  land  values 
and  farm  rentals.  Every  one  of  these  drifts  and  tendencies  threatens 
the  owners  of  country  property  in  Rockingham,  and  the  best  investment 
our  landlords  can  make  is  in  country  schools — in  the  very  best  possible 
country  schools.  Nothing  will  hold  tenants  in  the  country  and  keep 
them  satisfied  to  remain  on  year  after  year  in  the  same  community  like 
good  schools.  Nothing  else  is  so  inviting  to  home-seekers  with  money 
to  invest  in  country  property,  or  so  certainly  adds  value  to  the  market 
price  of  farm  lands. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  manufacture  is  outstripping  agriculture  in 
Rockingham.  Our  industries  are  developing  so  rapidly  that  our  country 
civilization  is  lagging  behind  and  in  remote  corners  of  the  county  is 
dropping  into  decay.  The  safety  of  a  county  and  a  country  alike  depends 
upon  the  sane  balancing  of  Its  rural  and  its  urban  life.  It  is  a  great 
problem  for  intelligent  people  of  Rockingham  to  keep  clearly  in  mind — 
the  farmers,  the  merchants,  the  bankers,  and  the  manufacturers.  Pros- 
perous country  regions  means  prosperous  towns,  and  the  time  has  come 
when  no  city  can  safely  grow  fat  in  a  lean  countryside. 

Maryelous  Seven-Year  (>aiiis 

The  gains  made  by  our  rural  schools  during  the  seven  years  between 
1908-09  and  1915-16.  the  date  of  the  last  published  report  of  the  State 


56  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

School  Superintendent,  were  marvelous.  We  say  this  advisedly.  Aside 
from  New  Hanover,  Wake,  and  Durham,  all  of  which  are  big-city  coun- 
ties, no  other  county  in  the  State  can  show  a  more  wonderful  list  of 
country  school  gains  than  Rockingham.  The  table  at  the  end  of  this 
chapter  tells  the  story  in  full,  and  it  is  worth  studying  in  detail. 

During  this  period  we  nearly  trebled  the  values  of  our  rural  school 
property.  We  multiplied  our  rural  school  fund  by  nearly  two  and  a 
half.  We  trebled  the  amount  spent  on  teaching  and  supervision,  and 
a  little  more  than  doubled  the  average  annual  salaries  of  our  white 
country  teachers.  At  the  beginning  of  the  period  under  discussion  we 
had  no  rural  school  districts  that  levied  local  school  taxes;  at  the  end 
of  it  we  had  eighteen  districts  that  were  willing  to  tax  themselves 
$13,451  for  the  sake  of  better  schools  for  their  children. 

Not  only  did  we  create  better  school  facilities  but  we  greatly  bettered 
the  quality  of  our  teaching  during  this  seven-year  period.  Here  are 
some  of  the  significant  gains:  (1)  The  white  schools  with  old-fashioned 
benches  or  home-made  desks  entirely  disappeared.  Every  white  school- 
house  was  equipped  with  modern  patent  desks — a  thing  that  can  be 
said  of  only  fourteen  other  counties  of  the  State,  (2)  our  rural  white 
teachers  increased  from  95  to  161,  (3)  our  consolidated  schools,  schools 
with  two  or  more  teachers,  increased  from  21  to  36,  (4)  our  rural  white 
teachers  with  four  years  of  experience  or  more  increased  from  32  to 
74,  and  (5)  those  with  college  diplomas  increased  from  6  to  35. 

These  gains  are  extremely  significant,  and  they  ought  to  be  reflected 
in  the  greater  power  of  our  schools  to  attract  country  children  and 
hold  them  in  school.  And  this  is  exactly  what  has  happened.  Our  white 
country  population  has  stood  still  or  decreased  in  number  since  1910, 
but  the  rural  school  population  increased  5  per  cent,  the  number  of 
country  children  enrolled  increased  10  per  cent,  and  the  average  of  daily 
attendance  increased  40  per  cent.  These  are  real  increases,  and  every 
school  man  knows  how  significant  they  are.  No  other  county  in  the 
State  can  show  such  gains  in  school  enrollment  and  attendance.  Indeed, 
many  counties  show  increasing  school  costs  on  the  one  hand  and  de- 
creasing attendance  on  the  other,  but  not  so  in  Rockingham. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  work  that  is  still  to  be  done  that  urgently 
needs  doing  in  our  country  regions;  manifestly  so  when  2,373  white 
children  of  school  age  in  the  country  were  not  in  school  in  1915-16  for 
so  much  as  a  single  day — whose  names  were  never  once  on  the  roll 
books  of  the  teachers. 

We  need  moonlight  schools  and  a  heroic  campaign  in  behalf  of  the 
children  in  Rockingham  who  are  rapidly  passing  beyond  the  daylight 
schools  of  the  State  into  adult  illiteracy  with  all  its  disabling  conse- 
quences. 

We  need  compulsory  school  attendance  laws  courageously  enforced; 
we  need  to  reach  and  serve  and  save  the  people  who  retard  the  develop- 


Our  I'tihlic  School  Rank  and  Progress  57 

nient  of  Rockingham;  and,  mind  you,  they  are  at  present  a  full  eighth 
of  our  entire  population. 

We  need  at  least  three  well  managed  Farm-Life  Schools  properly 
located.  Guilford  County  has  three  and  we  need  no  less.  We  need  a 
rural  school  supervisor  as  an  efficient  right  arm  for  our  county  school 
superintendent.  Sixteen  counties  have  such  additional  rural  school 
helpers,  and  Rockingham  needs  to  move  up  into  this  group  of  progres- 
sive counties. 

The  county  commencement  has  become  an  important  event  in  Rock- 
ingham school  life,  and  the  people  look  forward  to  it  with  keen  antici- 
pation. This  commencement  has  been  held  in  many  other  counties  as 
well  as  our  own  for  several  years,  and  it  has  rapidly  grown  in  signifi- 
cance and  value.  It  is  an  occasion  on  which  all  of  the  schools  of  the 
county  have  a  chance  to  get  together,  and  to  have  a  day  of  competitive 
tests,  athletics,  and  social  enjoyment.  Each  year  it  should  be  made 
bigger  and  better  than  ever  before. 

RANK  OF  K0CKIXGHA3I  I>  SCHOOL  MATTERS 

10th  in  total  population,  1910  census 36,442 

11th  in  rural  population  per  square  mile,  1910 54.6 

13th  in  total  white  population   25,965 

23rd  in  total   negro   population    10,474 

11th  in  negro  population  decrease,  1900-'10,  per  cent ■  6.3 

1,143  negroes  left  the  county  between  1900  and  1910. 
Many  more  have  gone  since  that  date. 
53rd  in  native  white  illiterates,  10  years  old  and  over,  1910, 

per  cent    12.3 

Number    of    such    illiterates,    2,302.     State    average, 
12.3%;  United  States  average,  37c. 
52nd  in  native  white  illiterate  voters,  per  cent 14.4 

Number  of  such  voters,  848,  or  one-seventh  of  them 
all.  State  average,  14%;  United  States  average, 
4.2%. 

31st    in  total  farm  wealth,  1910  census $6,050,152 

19th  in  total   taxable   wealth,   1916 $13,371,387 

49th  in  tax  levy  per  $100,  State  and  county.  1916 $.98 

Forty-eight  counties  had  a  higher  rate. 
34th  in  local  school  tax  fund  per  $1,000  of  taxable  property, 

1915-'16   rate    $7.11 

19th  in  total  school  property,  town  and  county,  1916 $161,405 

We  stood  19th  both  in  taxable  wealth  and  in  total 
school  property. 
11th  in  total  country  school  property,  1916 $123,205 

Only  10  counties  had  more  country  school  property. 
43rd  in  per  capita  investment  in  school  property,  town  and 

county,   1915-'16    $4.16 

28th  in  per  capita  investment  in  automobiles.  1915-'16 $15.56 

Nearly  four  times  as  much  money  in  motor  cars  as  in 
schools. 


58 


Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 


36th  in   per   capita   school   expenditures,    town    and   county, 

1915-'16    $2.58 

The  money  spent  to  keep  our  automobiles  running  in 

1915-'16  was  $4.74  per  inhabitant,  or  nearly  twice  as 

much  as  we  spent  per  inhabitant  to  keep  our  schools 

running. 

36th  in  average  annual  salaries  paid   white  teachers,   town 

and  country,  1915-'16   $289.00 

For  rural  white  teachers  it  was  only  $274.45. 
48th  in   rural   white   schools   having  two   or   more   teachers, 

1915-'16,  per  cent  43 

47  one-room,  one-teacher  schools  are  still  to  be  found 
in  our  white  country  communities.  Here  is  need 
for  further  consolidation.  Forty-seven  counties 
stood  ahead  of  us  in  this  particular. 


SEVEN-YEAR  GAINS  IN  RURAL  SCHOOLS 


]  90S-' 09 

Total  rural  school  property $44,673 

Total  rural  school  fund  $29,382 

Rural  districts  tax  fund Nothing 

Number  of  rural  school  tax  districts 0 

Spent  on  teaching  and  supervision $17,534 

Spent  on  new  buildings,  rural $7,019 

New  schoolhouses,  both  races 5 

Spent  on  administration $844 

Total  rural  school  population 10,483 

Total   rural  enrollment 6,329 

Per  cent  of  rural  enrollment 60.3 

Average  rural  daily  attendance 3,896 

Per  cent  attendance   62 

Average  annual   salaries    (white) $134.49 

Number  having  two  or  more  teachers....  21 

Per  cent  with  two  or  more  teachers,  white  31 

Total  number  of  rural  white  teachers....  95 

Number  with  four  years  of  experience.  ...  32 

Number  with  college  diplomas 6 

Number  of  rural  schoolhouses  (white)  ...  73 

Number  with  patent  desks 67 

Number  schoolhouses  with  home-made 

desks    6 

Total  number  of  white  districts 70 

Log  schoolhouses  1 


Per  Ct. 

JOt-j-'lG 

Inc. 

$123,205 

176 

$70,955 

141 

$13,451 

.  *  . 

18 

.  .  • 

$52,372 

200 

$8,100 

15 

9 

80 

$1,597 

88 

10,964 

5 

6,943 

10 

63.3 

3 

5,472 

40 

79 

17 

$274.45 

104 

36 

71 

43 

12 

161 

69 

74 

131 

35 

463 

81 

11 

81 

21 

0 

68 

3* 

1 

•  •  ■ 

Note. — *  means  decrease. 


Where  We  Lead 

T.  D.  Storks,  Ruffin,  N.  C. 

Rockinphani  has  a  great  many  things  to  be  proud  of.  Besides  being 
one  of  the  oldest  counties  in  the  State,  it  has  become  in  recent  years  one 
of  the  most  prosperous  industrial  areas  of  North  Carolina.  It  has  been 
bountifully  blessed  by  nature  with  good  soils  in  great  variety  and  with 
a  good  climate  that  distinctly  favors  live-stock  farming.  However,  in 
1910.  our  per  capita  wealth  in  farm  properties  was  only  $191  against 
$322,  the  average  for  the  State,  against  $560  in  Alleghany  and  $992,  the 
average  for  the  United  States. 

Reidsville  and  Sjiray 

Reidsville,  largely  because  of  its  wealth  and  age,  is  a  city  of  wide, 
shaded  streets  and  beautiful  homes,  costing  from  five  to  fifty  thousand 
dollars  apiece.  The  church  buildings  are  of  modern  construction,  the 
congregations  large,  and  the  music  is  under  the  direction  of  trained 
choir  leaders.  The  pastors  are  men  of  civic  as  well  as  religious  leader- 
ship. Reidsville  every  year  maintains  a  Chautauqua  week  and  sub- 
scribes funds  liberally  to  secure  many  of  the  most  noted  lecturers  and 
entertainers  on  the  lyceum  circuits.  The  postoffice  building  is  one  of 
the  three  or  four  best  in  North  Carolina.  Women's  libraries,  social  and 
civic  clubs  wield  tremendous  influence  in  the  life  of  the  city.  The  high 
school  building  would  be  a  credit  to  any  city  twice  the  size  of  Reidsville. 

The  annual  output  of  Reidsville  tobacco  factories  in  1914  amounted 
to  9,000,000  pounds  of  plug  and  500,000  pounds  of  smoking  tobacco, 
having  a  value  of  $7,500,000.  Since  the  war  the  output  has  been  prac- 
tically doubled.  Hundreds  of  people  find  employment  inside  the  walls 
of  these  massive  buildings.  In  every  small  territory,  in  every  State  in 
the  Union  are  traveling  men  pushing  the  output  of  Reidsville's  tobacco 
factories,  and  so  great  is  the  popularity  of  their  goods  that  these  plants 
are  running  on  an  average  of  $2,000,000  behind  orders.  The  chewers 
and  smokers  have  contributed  multiplied  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
tobacco  growers  of  Rockingham  County.  Practically  every  large  manu- 
facturing concern  in  this  country  maintains  buyers  in  the  Reidsville 
markets. 

Reidsville,  therefore,  is  a  busy  tobacco  factory  center.  Her  future 
will  largely  depend  upon  the  development  of  the  marvelous  agricultural 
resources  of  her  trade  territory.  Our  rolling  hillsides  and  green 
meadows  are  becoming  more  famous  for  their  grasses  and  live-stock 
than  tobacco  has  ever  made  them. 


\/ 


60  Rochingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

LeaksTille-Spray 

In  the  north  central  part  of  Rockingham  County  is  located  Spray, 
one  of  the  most  active  and  prosperous  little  cities  of  the  northern  tier 
of  counties.  It  has  a  population  of  over  8,000  and  is  growing  steadily. 
It  has  thirteen  important  cotton  mills  and  offers  exceptional  oppor- 
tunities for  more. 

Splendid  schools  and  churches  are  provided   for   all   the  people.     A 

handsome  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  has  recently  been  erected  at  a  cost  of 

more   than   $30,000.     The   main   public  school  building   recently   com- 

•  pleted  cost  $35,000  and  is  considered  one  of  the  best  in  this  section  of 

the  country. 

Leaksville,  adjoining  Spray,  is  a  growing  community,  and  contributes 
largely  to  the  activity  and  prosperity  of  the  north  end  of  the  county. 

The  people  of  Spray  take  great  pride  in  the  living  conditions  of  the 
town.  Every  means  for  the  preservation  of  health  and  for  the  general 
elevation  of  the  citizens  of  all  classes  is  provided.  Good  roads  connect 
Spray  with  the  surrounding  country  and  other  towns  of  the  section. 

Our  Schools 

During  the  year  1914  nine  new  schoolhouses  were  built  in  Rockingham 
County  and  four  were  entirely  renovated.  These  buildings  were  all 
erected  in  country  districts  except  the  new  building  in  Spray.  All 
these  buildings  have  been  erected  in  accordance  with  modern  plans, 
with  ample  and  attractive  playgrounds.  There  are  eighty-five  white 
schools  and  forty  colored  schools  in  the  county.  There  are  four  State 
high  schools  that  offer  free  tuition  to  all  boys  and  girls  who  have  com- 
pleted the  elementary  school.  High  school  branches  are  also  taught 
in  four  city  schools  and  in  several  of  the  consolidated  rural  schools 
in  the  special-tax  districts. 

Although  we  are  behind  in  food  production  we  are  ahead  in  many 
other  particulars.  A  shining  example  to  the  other  counties  of  the  State 
is  our  investment  in  county  public  school  property.  In  1916  our  rural 
school  property  w^as  valued  at  $123,205  and  only  ten  counties  made  a 
better  showing.  Our  country  children  are  fairly  well  cared  for  by  good 
teachers.  There  were  only  twenty-three  counties  in  the  State  that  paid 
their  white  teachers  more  than  we  did  in  1914.  At  that  time  our  average 
w^as  $257.  In  1916  it  was  $289,  and  only  thirty-five  counties  made  a  better 
showing.  These  insuflScient  salaries  are  nothing  to  boast  of,  consider- 
ing the  service  the  teachers  render  and  the  present  high  cost  of  living. 
On  the  whole,  and  also  in  specific  detail,  our  school  system  is  gradually 
becoming  modern  and  praiseworthy.  As  our  industries  develop,  it  will 
be  more  and  more  difficult  to  hold  good  tenants  on  the  farms  of  the 
county.  Good  county  schools  are  the  best  investment  our  landowners 
can  make. 


Where   We  Lead  61 

Rockingham  ranks  twenty-ninth  in  size,  but  only  nine  have  more  rural 
population  per  square  mile.  This  density  of  country  population  means 
abundant  labor  for  mills  and  factories.  Rockingham  is  moving  ahead 
rapidly  in  manufactures,  but  she  will  lag  behind  in  agriculture  unless 
our  country  schools  are  brought  to  the  highest  possible  level  of  efficiency. 

The  next  most  important  improvement  is  our  roads.  In  1914  Rock- 
ingham had  313  miles  of  improved  roads,  and  only  eight  counties  made 
a  better  showing.  Our  most  pressing  need  at  present  is  to  keep  our 
roads  in  good  repair.  One  of  the  most  serious  and  frequent  mistakes 
is  failure  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  improved  highways.  The 
expression,  "permanent  improvement,"  is  a  delusion  and  snare.  The 
permanency  of  road  improvement  depends  upon  the  character  of  main- 
tenance. The  sand-clay,  stone,  or  gravel  surface,  and  the  side  ditches 
as  well  as  the  foundations  of  the  highway,  need  constant  attention, 
similar  to  the  care  given  the  steel  rails  and  the  roadbeds  of  railroads. 

Our  Farm  Interests 

Rockingham  County  ranked  second  in  tobacco  culture  in  1910.  To- 
bacco is  the  main  money  crop  of  the  county,  although  wheat,  corn,  hay, 
and  forage  are  also  important  crops. 

In  the  census  year  we  had  S.568  cattle  of  all  kinds,  which  was  26  per 
1,000  acres.  It  was  very  few,  but  it  was  3  above  the  State  average  and 
only  35  counties  made  a  better  showing.  We  need  more  and  better  farm 
animals.  It  is  the  one  fundamental  farm  necessity  of  the  county.  In 
1910  we  were  81  per  cent  below  the  level  of  even  a  lightly  stocked  farm 
area,  which  is  one  animal  unit  to  every  five  acres. 

We  had  7.018  cattle  in  1860  and  only  8.568  in  1910.  Which  is  to  say, 
while  our  population  nearly  quadrupled  in  number  our  cattle  increase 
was  barely  20  per  cent. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  say  that  even  though  Rockingham  has  made 
great  progress  during  the  last  forty  years  she  is  by  no  means  living  up 
to  her  opportunities  and  privileges.  Rockingham  is  a  great  wealth- 
producing  but  a  poor  wealth-retaining  county. 

When  our  farmers  have  learned  to  keep  at  home  the  $2,130,000 
expended  yearly  for  imported  food  and  feed  products,  then  Rockingham 
will  move  to  the  forefront  as  a  county.  Better  home  conditions,  better 
school  and  church  support,  better  public  roads,  and  greater  attention 
to  public  health  and  sanitation  depend  on  greater  wealth  and  on  the 
greater  willingness  of  our  people  to  surrender  their  wealth  for  com- 
munity progress  and  prosperity. 

To  hold  down  the  wealth  they  create  in  tobacco  from  year  to  year, 
our  farmers  must  produce  at  home  bread  and  meat,  fruits  and  vegetables, 
canned  goods  and  the  like,  sufficient  for  home  consumption.  Their 
live-stock  needs  to  be  quadrupled  in  number  and  greatly  improved  in 
quality,  and  this  live-stock  must  be  supported  on  home-raised  grain, 
hay.  and  forage. 


62  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Then  the  money  crops  can  be  used  to  enlarge  and  equip  their  farms, 
improve  their  homes,  increase  their  comforts  and  luxuries,  swell  their 
hank  accounts,  and  in  general  make  life  on  the  farm  more  attractive. 
When  this  condition  is  met,  the  per  capita  country  wealth  of  Rockingham 
will  soon  pass  beyond  the  State  average  and  in  a  few  years  will  reach 
the  average  of  the  country  people  in  Iowa,  which  is  not  $191  but  $3,386. 

Cotton  and  tobacco  farmers  with  food  and  feed  to  buy  always  stay 
poor;  bread-and-meat  farmers  with  food  and  feed  to  sell  always  get  rich. 

Tobacco  farming  on  a  live-at-home  basis  would  make  Rockingham 
County  the  richest  farm  area  in  the  United  States  in  ten  years. 

WHEKE  WE  LEAD 

The  figures  at  the  left  margin  show  how  many  counties  rank  ahead 
of  Rockingham.  We  are  ahead  of  the  State  averages  in  the  particulars 
listed  below. 

Rank. 

10th  in  population.  1910  census 36,442 

12th  in  total  white  population.  1910 25,965 

22nd(  in  total  negro  population.  1910 10,474 

3rd  in  decrease  in  negro  population.  1900-1910,  per  cent....  6.3 

22nd  in  marriages  per  1,000  population,  15  years  and  over. .  .  12 

3rd  in  suicides,  average  rate  per  million  inhabitants 2 

6th  in  female  workers  in  factories.     Number  in  1915 1,307 

19th  in  total  taxable  wealth  in  1916 $13,371,387 

11th  in  investment  in  rural  school  property,  1916 $123,205 

8th  in  school  attendance  on  enrollment,  per  cent 80 

11th  in  investment  in  automobiles.   1915 $600,000 

27th  in  automobile  upkeep  per  inhabitant,  1916 $15.56 

9th  in  amount    spent    on    school    buildings    and    supplies, 

1913-'14    $15,134 

20th  in  average  salaries  paid  white  rural  teachers.  1913-'14. .  $257.37 
36th  in  average  salaries  paid  white  teachers,  town  and  coun- 
try, 1916    $289.00 

34th  in  total    revenue    from    local    school    tax    districts    in 

1913-'14    $13,579 

19th  in  farm-land  tax  values,  according  to  the  census  valua- 
tion, in  1910.  per  cent 34 

10th  in  State  income  tax  paid,  in  1916 $1,733 

15th  in  professional  taxes  paid  in  1916 $315 

8th  in  improved  roads,  January  1,  1915,  per  cent  of  total.  . .  52 

10th  in  cattle  increase.  1900-1910.  per  cent 33 

9th  in  sheep  increase.  1900-1910.  per  cent 22 

2nd  in  tobacco  production  in  pounds,  1910 8,279.194 

20th  in  total  crop  wealth  produced  in  1910 $2,330,409 

26th  in  non-food  crops  produced,  tobacco,  etc.,  1910 $995,385 

17th  in  corn  production  per  acre,  bushels,  1910 16 

22nd  in  wheat  production  per  acre,  bushels,  1910 9 

24th  in  hay  and  forage  production  in  1910,  total  crop,  tons..  4,580 

16th  in  wheat  production  per  inhabitant.  1910.  bushels 3.83 


Our  Problems  and  Their  Solution 

W.  E.  Pbice,  Madison,  N.  C. 

In  these  studies  we  have  presented  to  the  people  of  Rockingham,  to 
the  best  of  our  limited  power,  the  achievements  and  delinquencies  of 
our  home-county — her  faults  as  well  as  her  virtues. 

It  is  my  purpose  here  to  gather  up  the  loose  ends  of  these  details,  to 
weld  them  into  a  simple  expression  of  our  fundamentally  great  and 
pressing  needs,  and  further  to  try,  with  the  means  at  our  disposal,  to 
interpret  these  needs  and  point  the  way  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  a  broader 
and  better  community  life  in  Rockingham.  Nor  need  this  be  a  depress- 
ing task.  We  have  great  reason  to  be  proud  of  our  heritage  and  our 
present  possessions  and  advantages,  but  we  should  not  let  complacency 
blind  us  to  our  deficiencies.  Let  us  examine  our  faults  courageously, 
locate  the  causes  clearly,  and  then  proceed  in  a  telling  manner  to  make 
our  civilization  healthsome  au<l  wholesome,  prosperous  and  happy  in 
every  detail  of  community  life. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  that  all  the  evils,  all  the  backwardness  of  Rock- 
ingham, result  from  three  crippling,  disabling  conditions:  (1)  an  ill- 
balanced  farm  system.  (2)  the  growth  of  our  industries  at  the  expense 
of  our  country  civilization,  and  (3)  the  incubus  of  excessive  illiteracy, 
sheer  and  near.     I  shall  treat  each  of  these  in  detail. 

The  pressing  needs  of  our  county  are: 

1.  A  Better  Balanced  Farm  System 

All  civilizations  are  directly  dependent  for  their  raw  materials,  their 
power,  and  their  culture  upon  the  dwellers  in  the  countryside.  The 
tillers  of  the  land,  the  foresters,  and  the  miners  are  the  producers  of  the 
basic  wealth  of  the  state.  They  foster  national  ideals  and  determine  at 
last  the  level  of  national  consciousness.  Peace  and  progress  are  the 
blessings  of  a  land  of  intelligent,  prosperous  farmers.  If  its  land  citi- 
zenry is  struggling  and  poor,  a  country  can  have  no  prolific  life. 

It  is  vital  to  us.  therefore,  to  find  out  the  living  conditions  of  our 
farmers  and  their  estate  in  life. 

The  1910  census  shows  that  we  have  a  per  capita  country  wealth  in 
farm  properties  in  Rockingham  amounting  to  only  $191.  It  is  a  very 
small  figure  and  it  gives  us  a  very  low  standing.  There  are  87  coun- 
ties in  the  State  with  greater  per  capita  country  wealth.  In  Alleghany 
it  was  $560,  in  the  United  States  $994,  and  in  Iowa  $3,386. 

You  see.  our  farmers  are  poor.  They  have  too  little  money  with 
which  to  introduce  experiments,  or  carry  out  ideas.     This  fact  probes  to 


64  Rochingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

the  very  quick  of  our  country-life  problems.     To  have  contented  boys 

I 

and  girls,  to  have  good  roads,  good  schools,  good  churches,  and  fine 
farms,  we  must  have  money — far  more  money  than  we  have  ever  had  in 
our  country  regions.  Why  is  it  that  in  a  county  whose  natural  re- 
sources are  unequaled  the  country  people  are  so  poor?  Clearly  our 
methods  must  be  wrong.  We  produce  enormous  wealth;  in  the  last 
census  year  it  amounted  to  $2,330,409.  Where  does  all  this  money  go? 
In  that  same  year  we  sent  out  of  the  county  $2,130,000  for  imported  food 
and  feed  supplies.  It  was  a  million  dollars  more  than  our  tobacco  pro- 
duced. Here  is  where  we  lose.  We  slave  to  raise  tobacco,  and  we  neg- 
lect livestock  and  food  crops.  Year  by  year  we  create  a  vast  volume  of 
farm  wealth;  but  we  no  sooner  get  it  than  we  ride  our  wagons  to  town 
and  send  it  away  to  the  Western  farmers.  Every  year  this  tremendous 
drain  increases.  Every  three  years  we  produce  as  much  wealth  as  we 
have  been  able  to  accumulate  in  125  years.  This  is  vitally  wrong.  Our 
lands  are  admirably  suited  for  the  raising  of  food  and  feed;  we  have 
unequaled  pasturage  possibilities.  We  can  easily  raise  all  the  meat 
and  bread  we  need  for  home  consumption.  We  did  it  in  1915  under  the 
pressure  of  pinching  necessity,  and  we  can  do  it  again,  and  do  it  every 
year  under  the  pressure  of  hard  horse-sense.  Why  do  we  raise  tobacco 
exclusively,  when,  if  we  would  be  self-supporting,  we  could  soon  be  roll- 
ing in  wealth  like  the  farmers  of  Iowa? 

For  many  years  influences  have  been  at  work  upon  our  farmers  to 
make  them  persist  in  farm  customs  that  must  forever  keep  them  poor. 
Tlie  impoverishment  of  the  South  by  the  Civil  War  caused  great  num- 
bers of  whites  and  negroes  to  become  tenant  farmers  as  the  only  way 
of  support.  Today  there  are  1,738  landless,  homeless  farmers  in  Rock- 
ingham. More  than  half,  or  54.5  per  cent,  of  all  our  farms  are  in  the 
hands  of  tenants.  Two-thirds  of  our  tenant  farmers  are  white  and  nine- 
tenths  of  them  are  croppers. 

We  have  been  so  long  used  to  the  tenancy  system  of  farming  that  we 
have  become  dull  to  the  fact  that  "it  is  the  most  vicious  and  wasteful 
method  of  land  cultivation  known  anywhere  on  earth  today."  Farm 
buildings  fall  into  ruin,  fertile  soils  are  worn  out  and  abandoned  to 
gullies  and  pine  thickets.  There  are  103,000  acres  of  such  land  in  Rock- 
ingham today.  The  tenant  raises  tobacco  and  neglects  food  and  feed 
crops — either  by  choice  or  under  the  pressure  of  the  supply-merchant  or 
the  landlord.  Through  his  lack  of  home-raised  bread  and  meat  he  finds 
himself  at  the  mercy  of  the  supply  merchant,  and  every  year  on  a 
poorer  farm.  He  moves  about  from  place  to  place.  His  children  fall 
out  of  school,  and  his  family  wanders  beyond  the  reach  of  church  and 
Sunday  school  influences.  Here  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  we  have 
2,300  native  white  illiterates  in  Rockingham,  and  15,000  people  of  re- 
sponsible ages  outside  of  our  churches. 


Our  Pruhlcmn  and  Their  Suluiiun  65 

The  owner  as  well  as  the  tenant  is  absorbed  by  the  rush  for  the 
tobacco  dollar.  As  a  result,  our  tobacco  money,  whatever  be  the  mar- 
ket price,  pays  barely  half  our  bill  for  imported  food  products  from 
year  to  year.  The  bread-and-meat  farmers  of  the  West  got  two  million 
dollars  of  our  hard-earned  money  in  1910,  and  over  four  million  dollars 
of  it  in  1917.  No  wonder  they  get  rich  while  we  stay  poor.  We  have 
cleared  nearly  all  of  our  virgin  forest  in  our  mad  search  for  gold,  when 
It  has  all  the  time  been  in  our  very  hands,  if  we  would  but  husband  our 
resources,  and  care  for  our  land,  and  produce  tobacco  on  a  bread-and- 
meat  basis. 

Our  farmers  do  not  attempt  to  supply  our  towns  with  food,  because 
they  have  been  given  small  encouragement  to  do  so.  The  townspeople 
bid  eagerly  for  tobacco,  but  neglect  to  provide  well  regulated  public 
market  facilities  for  food  products.  The  buying  and  distribution  of 
country  produce  has  been  left  in  the  hands  of  small  middlemen,  who 
through  unwise  and  frequently  unfair  practices  have  killed  the  tendency 
of  our  farmers  to  raise  food  products  for  sale.  Indeed,  they  have  en- 
couraged them  to  raise  tobacco  and  buy  their  food  and  feed  supplies. 
The  merchant  thrives,  the  farmer  loses,  and  the  town  consumers  pay 
high  prices.  Under  our  present  plan,  or  lack  of  plan,  consumers  get  too 
little  for  their  money,  and  farmers  get  too  little  for  their  produce,  and 
the  middlemen  get  the  bulk  of  the  consumer's  dollar. 

Thus  our  farmers,  heedless  of  the  fact  that  a  tobacco  crop  is  a  use- 
less crop,  unless  he  raises  his  own  supplies  and  retains  his  tobacco 
money  or  a  reasonable  share  of  it,  continues  this  suicidal  policy  from 
year  to  year  and  remains  a  poor  owner  or  a  tenant  all  his  life,  with  his 
land  more  and  more  exhausted.  TTie  townman,  looking  greedily  at  the 
farmer's  tobacco  money,  seizes  it,  and  neglects  to  provide  places  where 
farm  products  other  than  tobacco  can  be  sold.  In  this  way  he  discour- 
ages diversified  farming  in  the  nearby  country  regions.  He  is  blind  to 
the  fact  that  by  impoverishing  his  farm  neighbors  he  is  insuring  his 
own  ultimate  loss,  for  merchants  cannot  thrive  in  a  town  supported  by 
a  poor  back-country. 

What  can  we  do  about  it?  Clearly,  in  the  first  place,  we  must  encour- 
age tenants  to  buy  land,  and  farm  owners  must  take  a  more  active  in- 
terest in  the  cultivation  and  preservation  of  their  properties.  How  can 
we  get  tenants  to  become  farm  owners?  Our  schools  play  a  big  part 
here.  We  must  educate  our  farm  children  in  modern  practices.  We 
need  two  or  three  good  farm-life  schools  in  which  our  country  children 
can  learn  what  they  need  to  know  about  well-balanced  farm  systems — 
about  money  crops,  food  crops,  livestock,  farm  managentent.  salesman- 
ship, farm  credit,  and  the  like.  Landowners  should  encourage  food 
production  and  soil  improvement,  and  show  tenants  how  to  save  money 
and  buy   farms.     The   home-loving,   land-owning   instinct  must  be  de- 

5 


'> 


66  Rockingham  Count >/:  Economic  and  Social 

veloped  in  our  tenant  farmers.  Our  banks  could  interest  themselves 
actively  in  helping  thrifty  tenants  to  buy  small  farms  on  easy  terms. 
Every  citizen  intelligently  concerned  about  the  county  should  interest 
himself  in  putting  an  end  to  our  disastrous  system  of  farm  tenancy. 
It  can  be  done,  if  we  want  to  do  it. 

A  second  step  to  be  taken  towards  a  better  farm  system  is  the  wide 
introduction  of  livestock  farming.  A  well  stocked  farm  is  essential 
for  self-support,  for  the  diversification  of  crops,  and  for  the  enrichment 
of  fields.  Livestock  farming  goes  hand  in  hand  with  farm  prosperity. 
It  is  so  in  the  Middle  West,  and  it  can  be  so  in  Rockingham.  Besides 
furnishing  an  adequate  supply  of  foods;  hogs,  cattle,  and  sheep  are 
absolutely  necessary  to  efficient  farming.  With  sufficient  equipment, 
livestock  farming  is  the  most  pleasant  of  all  farm  work.  Rockingham 
is  woefully  deficient  in  livestock.  In  1910  we  were  81  per  cent  below 
the  level  of  even  a  lightly  stocked  farm  area,  and  we  produced  only 
54.2  pounds  of  pork  per  inhabitant  instead  of  the  122  pounds  we  needed. 
All  told,  we  imported  nearly  two  million  pounds  of  meat  of  all  sorts  in 
the  census  year.  Think  of  it!  We  never  can  hope  to  hold  down  our 
tobacco  money  in  Rockingham  until  we  cut  our  imported  meat  bills 
down  to  zero. 

How  are  our  farmers  to  get  the  money  they  need  for  more  and  better 
livestock?  Bankers  and  banks  play  a  very  important  part  in  the  life 
of  any  community.  Many  of  our  farmers,  when  they  catch  the  vision 
of  profitable,  comfortable  ^livestock  farming  will  not  have  the  necessary 
capital.  Our  banks  may  safely  lend  their  money  on  good  livestock. 
In  these  times  no  loans  are  better  secured.  It  is  wise  to  lend  money  to 
reliable  farmers  for  productive  purposes:  say,  to  buy  land  for  more  ex- 
tensive farming,  to  build  good  fences,  to  build  feed  and  shelter  barns,  to 
import  good  stock  males,  and  so  on. 

When  our  farmers  once  get  safely  settled  in  the  habit  of  raising  cover 
crops,  saving  every  bit  of  manure,  and  returning  it  to  the  fields,  caring 
for  their  animals,  and  raising  both  food  and  tobacco,  they  and  the 
county  will  be  prosperous. 

In  order  to  serve  both  consumers  and  producers  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, Leaksville-Spray,  Reidsville,  and  Madison  should  have  free  public 
markets  for  country  foodstuffs. 

To  put  our  farming  to  the  front  we  must  do  three  things:  we  must 
eliminate  tenancy,  introduce  livestock  farming  widely,  and  establish 
local  markets  for  home-raised  food  and  feed  supplies. 

2.  A  Safe  Balance  Between  Agriculture  and  Manufacture 

Rockingham  is  jubilant  over  the  expansion  of  her  industries,  and 
truly  we  have  a  right  to  be  proud.     Spray  and  Leaksville  are  becoming 


Our  Piohlems  and  Their  Solution  67 

great  textile  centers,  and  Reidsville  Is  far  to  the  front  in  tobacco  manu- 
facture. Yet  we  have  barely  begun  to  realize  our  manufacturing  possi- 
bilities. Today  we  have  43  manufacturing  plants,  16  of  which  are 
textile  mills,  with  a  combined  capital  stock  of  $2,666,000  or  more. 
These  are  the  figures  of  the  State  Labor  Commissioner  in  1916.  With 
our  natural  advantages  we  should  lead  in  the  industrial  life  of  the 
State.  We  have  ample  hydro-electric  possibilities.  We  are  in  the 
center  of  a  rich  region  of  raw  materials,  in  the  heart  of  the  tobacco 
belt,  on  the  edge  of  the  great  cotton  fields  of  the  South,  and  close  to  a 
plentiful  supply  of  hardwoods,  in  a  region  admirably  suited  to  grain, 
hay,  and  livestock  production.  We  are  a  thickly  settled  farm  area. 
Labor  is  abundant.  The  labor  cost  of  production  can  be  low,  if  only  we 
can  develop  our  food  producing  possibilities  and  thus  keep  the  cost  of 
living  on  a  reasonable  level. 

Meanwhile,  we  must  keep  in  mind  the  fundamental  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  small  plants  is  better  than  a  small  number  of  large  plants 
concentrated  in  a  single  center  or  two.  We  need  knitting  mills,  hosiery 
mills,  flour  mills,  and  woodworking  plants  scattered  all  over  the  county, 
wherever  railway  or  improved  highway  facilities  make  such  enterprises 
possible.  There  is  room  in  Rockingham  for  a  large  increase  in  the 
number  of  mills  and  factories,  and  there  is  need  for  an  immense  multi- 
plication of  city  consumers  of  farm  produce.  At  present  the  farm 
wagons  on  any  Saturday  of  the  year  glut  our  little  cities  and  reduce  to 
little  or  nothing  the  prices  the  farmers  get. 

But  we  are  rapidly  developing  the  populous  market  centers  that  tha 
county  needs.  The  inhabitants  of  our  mill  centers  have  trebled  in 
number  since  1910.  Our  towns  and  villages  now  contain  one-third  of 
the  people  of  the  county.  As  manufacture  waxes  great  in  our  county, 
we  will  be  wise  to  see  to  it  that  agriculture  does  not  dwindle  and  almost 
disappear  as  in  Durham  and  many  other  counties  in  the  industrial  area 
of  the  State  and  the  United  States.  A  sane,  safe  balance  must  be  main- 
tained between  the  town  and  country  civilizations  of  our  county,  or 
both  manufacture  and  agriculture  will  pay  heavy  penalties  in  the  long 
run. 

The  dangers  that  confront  agriculture  lie  in  the  cityward  drift  of 
country  populations,  in  decreasing  farm  labor,  in  the  increasing  diffi- 
culty of  securing  good  tenants  and  wage  hands  of  any  sort,  in  increas- 
ing areas  of  idle  land,  in  lower  land  values  and  rents,  in  the  decreasing 
support  for  country  day  schools,  Sunday  schools,  and  churches.  The 
dangers  are  summed  up  when  we  say  that  increasing  industrialism 
threatens  depression  in  farming  as  a  business  in  Rockingham,  and  in 
country  civilization  as  a  county  asset.  Even  tobacco  farming  has  al- 
most come  to  an  end  in  Durham  County,  and  cotton  culture  has  disap- 


68  Bockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

peared,  although  Durham  city  is  one  of  our  great  cotton  and  tobacco 
factory  centers.  The  owners  of  country  property  in  Rockingham  can 
well  afford  to  consider  this  drift  of  things — and  to  act  wisely  before  it 
is  too  late. 

The  dangers  that  confront  manufacture  in  an  area  of  dwindling 
agriculture  lie  in  the  increased  cost  of  living  which  forces  wages  up 
and  profits  down.  If  four  million  dollars  worth  of  bread  and  meat  must 
be  imported  into  Rockingham  this  year,  a  swarming  multitude  of  mid- 
dlemen must  be  rewarded.  Imported  foods  mean  inflated  bills  for 
pantry  supplies.  When  the  cost  of  living  rises,  wages  must  rise.  If 
not,  then  capital  tends  to  destroy  the  labor  that  helps  to  produce  its 
dividends;  and  whenever  this  is  the  case  discontent  and  wage-and- 
labor  troubles  arise.  It  is  easy  to  raise  wages,  it  is  hard  to  lower  them. 
It  is  far  wiser  to  keep  wages  on  a  reasonable  level  by  keeping  the  cost 
of  living  on  a  fair  level.  And  this  can  be  done  by  a  factory  center  only 
in  a  well  developed  food-producing  area  and  by  solving  the  problem  of 
markets  for  home-raised  food  supplies. 

Having  considered  the  dangers  that  confront  both  agriculture  and 
manufacture  in  the  development  of  life  and  business  in  our  county,  let  us 
examine  the  policies  that  are  necessary  to  preserve  a  safe  balance  be- 
tween the  two. 

1.  Rockingham  must  become  an  area  of  prosperous  home-owning, 
food-producing  farmers,  a  region  of  tobacco  production  on  a  bread-and- 
meat,  live-at-home  basis.  Livestock  farming  and  diversified  farming 
develop  together  and  neither  is  possible  without  the  other.  The  mill 
owners,  the  bankers,  and  the  merchants  of  our  city  centers  must  en- 
courage food  and  feed  farming  in  self-defense.  They  must  encourage 
the  ownership  of  farms  by  capable,  aspiring  tenants,  and  the  importa- 
tion of  improved  breed-sires;  and  above  all  they  must  provide  free 
public  market  facilities  that  will  bring  consumers  and  producers  of 
food  products  together  with  mutual  advantage.  In  no  other  way  can 
the  farmer  get  more  for  his  produce  and  the  consumer  more  for  his 
money.  It  is  not  an  easy  problem  to  solve,  but  it  is  worth  the  best 
thinking  of  our  captains  of  industry,  because  here  is  almost  the  only 
chance  to  keep  the  cost  of  living  and  the  wage  scale  on  a  reasonable 
level. 

2.  Then,  again,  a  broad  business  statesmanship  will  lead  our  city 
centers  to  vote  for  county-wide  taxes  for  better  country  schools,  for  a 
more  rapid  extension  of  improved  public  highways,  for  farm-life  schools, 
for  school  supervisors,  a  whole-time  public  health  officer,  a  home  dem- 
onstration agent — for  everything  that  will  tend  to  create  prosperity, 
high  courage,  and  good  cheer  in  the  country  regions  of  the  county. 
There  is  no  limit  to  the  development  of  a  city  seated  at  the  center  of  a 


Our  Problems  and  Their  Solution  69 

prosperous  food-producing  farm  region;  but  the  time  has  come  when 
decline  and  depression  in  a  trade  area  punishes  every  business  interest 
in  the  city  center. 

The  cityward  drift  of  country  people  is  inevitable  under  the  condi- 
tions of  modern  industrialism.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  make  life  effi- 
cient, satisfying,  and  wholesome  for  those  that  love  country  life  and 
prefer  to  remain  in  the  country  regions. 

Our  country  people  need  the  best  possible  schools  and  roads  and 
churches,  otherwise  the  mill  wages  and  the  siocial  advantages  of  our 
towns  will  attract  out  of  the  farm  regions  the  best  labor  and  leave 
behind  the  poorest. 

The  secret  of  industrial  as  well  as  agricultural  success  in  Rockingham 
lies  in  the  sane  balance  we  preserve  between  them.  In  town  and  coun- 
try alike  we  must  educate  on  the  highest  levels  in  the  most  liberal  ways 
possible,  and  we  must  have  definite,  wise  policies  of  activity,  if  farm 
and  factory  life  are  to  develop  side  by  side  with  mutual  advantage. 

3.  The  Elimiiiatiou  of  Illiteracy 

And  finally.  In  every  forward  move  we  make  or  try  to  make  in 
Rockingham,  we  run  against  a  certain  intangible  resistance  which 
makes  heartening  success  in  any  kind  of  social  betterment  rare.  It  is 
the  dull,  blank  wall  of  illiteracy  and  ignorance  which  everywhere  balks 
us  as  an  upward  struggling  people.  We  quote  the  University  News 
Letter  of  March  7,  1917: 

"Perhaps  the  most  menacing  of  all  social  ills  and  the  most  diflBcult  to 
cure  is  illiteracy.  The  most  menacing  because  illiteracy  andf  poverty 
go  hand  in  hand.  They  are  born  twins  and  boon  companions  through- 
out life.  Few  of  the  perils  of  democracy  can  be  abolished  or  even  held 
in  check  in  the  presence  of  sheer-illiteracy  and  near-illiteracy  in  over- 
whelming mass.  Together  they  threaten  both  the  church  and  the  state; 
and  both  in  self-defense  are  called  on  to  sponge  illiteracy  off  the  map." 

Our  illiterates  in  Rockingham  are  more  than  one-fifth  of  all  our  males 
of  voting  age.  more  than  one-sixth  of  our  entire  population  ten  years  of 
age  and  over,  nearly  one-eighth  of  our  entire  white  population,  and 
more  than  a  seventh  of  all  our  white  voters.  In  addition  to  these 
appalling  totals,  consider  the  vast  number  of  our  people  who  can  read 
and  don't  read,  who  can  think  and  don't  think,  who  have  only  a  meager 
acquaintance  with  the  great  events  and  problems  of  the  world  they  live 
in,  who  are  uninformed  or  misinformed  about  every  vital  concern  of 
life,  who  are  unalert,  apathetic,  prejudiced,  suspicious,  and  unorganiz- 
able  in  every  worthy  enterprise,  but  who  can  be  fooled  by  every  design- 
ing trickster  and  voted  in  herds  against  every  constructive  measure  of 
improvement  and  progress,  relief  and  reform. 


70  Rockinghatn  County:  Economic  and  Social 

Illiteracy,  sheer  and  near,  lies  at  the  root  of  every  economic  and 
social  ill  in  our  beloved  county.  It  explains  our  excessive  tobacco 
culture  under  a  farm-tenancy,  supply-merchant,  crop-lien  system;  our 
neglect  of  livestock  and[  food  crops;  our  hundred  thousand  worn  out 
acres,  our  enormous  bills  for  imported  breadstuffs,  and  our  excessive 
country  poverty.  Only  dense  ignorance  will  explain  why  a  man  strug- 
gles on  as  a  tenant  or  as  a  small  farm  owner  letting  his  land  wash 
away  under  such  a  system,  and  wasting  the  precious  resources  of  his 
soil  and  his  soul,  when  God's  richest  county  waits  to  be  developed  by 
the  sweat  of  his  brow  and  his  brain.  Ignorance  is  back  of  the  apathy, 
the  indifference  to  the  ills  of  our  country  civilization,  and  the  uncon- 
cern that  cripples  and  retards  education  and  religion  in  our  countryside. 

The  greatest  problems  of  our  mill  centers  arise  from  illiteracy. 
Children  of  high  school  age  are  held  out  of  school  to  work  in  factories 
and  soon  they  fall  into  adult  illiteracy.  It  explains  the  careless  waste 
of  wages,  however  large,  the  small  bank  account  savings  of  mill  hands, 
their  restless  discontent,  the  incessant  moving  from  mill  to  mill,  the 
lack  of  interest  in  churches,  day  schools,  and  Sunday  schools,  the  feeble 
sense  of  citizenship  and  responsibility  for  community  morals,  law  and 
order.  An  intelligent  factory  population,  fairly  treated,  is  thrifty  in 
times  of  prosperity  and  steady  in  times  of  depression.  An  illiterate, 
ignorant  mass  of  wage-earners  can  be  stirred  into  any  kind  of  foolish 
frenzy  at  any  time  by  any  mischief-maker.  If  the  citizenry  of  a  factory 
center  is  woefully  illiterate,  nought  but  bitter  results  can  be  expected 
in  the  long  run.  If  our  mill  centers  are  to  become  cities  beautiful,  the 
larger  spirit  of  intelligence  must  be  appealed  to;  and  in  particular 
good  trade  schools  must  be  established.  Great  strides  are  being  taken 
in  our  city  schools.  The  school  at  Spray  is  magnificent,  but  we  should 
not  stop  here.  Every  child  betv/een  six  and  sixteen  ought  to  be  in 
school.  Vocational  schools  should  be  provided,  offering  well  planned 
courses  in  night  sessions  for  aspiring  mill  workers. 

Poor  day-school  attendance  is  the  cause  of  all  our  illiteracy.  Moon- 
light schools  are  important,  but  daylight  schools  are  more  so.  In  1910, 
the  white  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and  fourteen  who  were  not 
in  school  for  even  a  single  day  numbered  1,750.  In  1915-'16  they  num- 
bered 2,373.  Nearly  a  third  of  all  our  white  country  children  are 
habitually  out  of  school.  Here  is  a  dire  menace  to  progress  and  pros- 
perity in  our  county.  Tlie  man  who  does  not  give  the  school  his  whole 
support,  who  grudges  the  attendance  of  his  child,  is  as  much  a  traitor 
and  a  slacker  to  the  best  interest  of  his  county  as  the  cowardly  evader 
of  his  country's  call  to  arms. 

Illiteracy,  then,  is  the  active,  foundational  cause  of  all  our  problems. 
Give  us  an  intelligent  people  and  they  will  farm  intelligently,  they  will 


Our  Problems  and  'J'helr  Solution  71 

realize  their  manufacturing  possibilities,  and  they  will  have  fine  roads 
and  churches,  and  they  will  safely  solve  all  the  perplexing  problems  of 
a  progressive  democracy. 

The  fight  against  ignorance  is  our  fundamental  fight.  How  shall  we 
conduct  it?  It  is  an  age-old  fight.  We  must  change  our  method  of 
attack.  Our  churches  and  preachers  and  Sunday  school  teachers  must 
be  aroused.  More  than  three-fifths  of  our  people  are  outside  our 
churches.  Our  non-church  members  numbered  15,657  in  1906,  and 
illiteracy  is  the  main  cause  of  this  deplorable  state  of  affairs. 

We  must  have  better  teachers,  and  we  must  pay  them  better.  In  1©16 
the  average  salary  of  our  white  country  teachers  was  only  $274.  We 
cannot  expect  any  intelligent  mortal  to  go  into  teaching  as  his  life  work 
if  his  pay  is  as  little  as  that.  Teachers  have  the  most  important  civic 
duty  in  the  life  of  every  community.  They  should  be  required  to  be 
highly  efficient,  and  they  should  be  paid  the  highest  possible  wages. 

Again,  we  should  greatly  change  the  nature  of  our  schools.  It  is 
high  time  for  us  to  consider  the  kind  of  education  that  our  town  and 
country  boys  and  girls  most  need.  Every  child  should  be  given  a 
thorough  grounding  in  the  fundamentals;  but  why  should  we  attempt 
to  force  children  who  have  no  aptitude  for  culture  courses  to  take  the 
Latin  and  upper-class  mathematics  uniformly  required  in  our  high 
schools?  The  common  result  is  for  such  children  to  fall  into  discour- 
agement, and  then  out  of  school  years  too  soon.  Why  not  teach  them 
some  practical  trade?  Our  county  desperately  needs  skilled  farmers, 
mechanics,  laborers.  Let  us  show  our  farmer  boys,  by  demonstration, 
the  right  way  to  farm.  We  should  establish  at  least  three  good  farm- 
life  schools  under  competent  headships.  They  could  be  located  in  the 
country  near  Reidsville,  near  Leaksville-Spray,  and  between  Madison 
and  Ellisboro.  Then  the  process  of  selection  could  have  full  play.  The 
children  who  crave  pure  culture  courses  can  have  them  in  the  State 
high  schools  at  Bethany,  Madison.  Rufl!in.  and  Stoneville,  or  in  the  local 
high  schools  at  Wentworth  and  Spray,  or  in  the  city  high  schools  of 
Leaksville  and  Reidsville.  But  those  who  have  a  natural  aptitude  for 
agriculture  or  the  trades  should  have  a  chance  at  these  vocational  sub- 
jects in  the  vocational  schools  of  the  towns  and  the  farm-life  schools  of 
the  country. 

To  have  good  teachers  and  good  schools  we  must  have  more  money. 
Only  18  out  of  our  68  country  school  districts  levied  local  school  taxes 
in  1915-'16.  Our  local  school  tax  rate,  town  and  country,  was  only 
$4.49  per  $1,000  of  taxable  property.  This  rate  is  one  of  the  lowest  in 
the  State.  Schools  are  all-important.  We  should  cheerfully  bear  heavy 
burdens  to  bring  them  to  the  highest  possible  level  of  efficiency. 

The  final  step  in  eliminating  illiteracy  is  the  brave  enforcement  of 
our  compulsory  school  attendance  law.     Public  sentiment  needs  to  be 


72  Rockingham  County:  Economic  and  Social 

aroused,  and  our  officers  sustained  by  the  intelligence  and  courage  of 
the  county.  This  is  no  time  for  us  to  be  slackers  because  of  fear  of 
disturbing  or  displeasing  someone.  Every  child  of  age  should  be  in 
school.     The  University  Neics  Letter  says: 

"What  shall  we  do  about  illiteracy  in  North  Carolina?  Ninety-four 
per  cent  of  it  is  rural,  and  85  per  cent  of  it  is  adult.  Furthermore, 
white  adult  illiteracy  increases  steadily.  It  has  risen  from  13.3  per 
cent  in  1850  to  14.6  per  cent  in  1910.  Something  must  be  done.  We 
believe  strongly  that  it  is  a  church  as  well  as  a  state  problem. 

"And,  furthermore,  we  do  not  believe  that  it  can  ever  be  cured  if  the 
church  leaves  it  to  the  state.  It  is  profoundly  a  religious  concern,  and 
we  need  to  put  into  the  war  against  illiteracy  the  fire  and  fervor  of 
religious  zeal. 

"Illiteracy  menaces  the  church  as  well  as  the  state.  The  people 
perish  for  lack  of  knowledge;  and  it  is  a  fundamental  social  situation 
that  the  church  will  ignore  at  its  peril  everywhere. 

"The  Moonlight  School  and  other  agencies  dealing  with  adult  illiter- 
acy ought  to  challenge  the  missionary  zeal  of  preachers  as  well  as 
teachers,  Sunday  school  superintendents  as  well  as  day  school  super- 
intendents, and  church  missionaries  as  well  as  state  authorities." 

In  truth,  no  social  problem  of  any  sort  can  be  solved  where  sheer  and 
near  illiteracy  are  massive  enough  to  give  demagogues  a  chance  to  fool 
the  folks  wherever  any  progressive  measure  is  submitted  to  the  popular 
vote. 

It  has  been  my  effort  in  this  brief  chapter  to  trace  our  ills  to  their 
sources  and  to  suggest  as  best  I  could  the  plans  and  policies  that  in  my 
opinion  will  gradually  lead  our  county  into  a  richer  and  better  life. 

Some  recent  developments  are  suggestive  of  a  hopeful  awakening  in 
Rockingham:  the  recent  campaigning  of  livestock  farming,  the  good 
schools  and  the  welfare  work  at  Spray,  an  alert  county  board  of  com- 
merce and  agriculture  and  its  gospel  of  bread-and-meat  farming,  city 
market  facilities,  and  improved  stock  males,  and  the  agitation  in  favor 
of  farm-life  schools.  All  these  movements  are  forward-looking,  and  all 
of  them  challenge  the  intelligence,  the  devotion,  and  the  courage  of  all 
the  people  who  are  capable  of  having  a  genuine,  generous  interest  in 
their  mother-county. 


Sources  of  Information 

Wheeler's  History  and  Memoirs  of  the  Counties  of  North  Carolina. 

Timber    Resources    of    Rockingham.— North    Carolina    Geological    and 
Economic  Survey,  Press  Bulletin  No.  117. 

Biennial  Reports.  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  North  Caro- 
lina, 190S-'9  and  1915-'16. 

United  States  Census  Reports  for  1850,  1900,  and  1910. 

Clay  Products  Reports.— North  Carolina  Geological  Survey. 

Reports  of  State  Health  Boards.  1913-14,  and  1915-'16. 

Reports  of  the  North  Carolina  State  Tax  Commission,  1910  to  1917. 

Report  of  North  Carolina  Department  of  Labor  and  Printing,  1914,  1^15. 
and  ]916. 

Files  of  tne  University  of  North  Carolina  News  Letter. 
.  Club  Studies  in  the  Laboratory  of  the  North  Carolina  Club  at  the  Uni- 
versity. 

Files  of  Newspaper  Clippings  of  the  Department  of  Rural  Economics 
and  Sociology,  University  of  North  Carolina. 

The  Federal  Census  of  Industries.  1914. 

Manual  of  North  Carolina,  issued  by  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Com- 
mission.— R.  D.  W.  Connor. 

Folder  of  the  Reidsville  Commercial  and  Agricultural  Association. 


1  Brown  s  Warehouse 


FOR  THE  SALE  OF 

LEAF  TOBACCO 


I 

i 
i 

I  THE  LEADERS  OF  THE  WINSTON-SALEM 

TOBACCO  MARKET 


JOHN  SIMPSON  and  JOE  GLENN 

ROCKINGHAM  BOYS 


Our  total  sales  for  1917  crop  averaged 
$33.01  per  hundred 


I  This  record  leads  all  houses  and  markets  in         \ 

I  America  in  average  for  that  quantity  of            \ 

\  tobacco.     We  sold  nearly  10  million 

I  pounds 

i 

YOU  SHOULD  SELL  WITH  YOUR  COUNTY  BOYS     \ 
I  AND  MAKE  MONEY,  TOO  ! 

!  { 

I  Your  friends,  | 

I  SIMPSON  &  GLENN 

I  PROPRIETORS  BROWN'S  WAREHOUSE 

I 


1888  1918 

FRANCIS   WOMACK 

INSURANCE 

REIDSVILLE,   NORTH   CAROLINA 

OLDEST  OFFICE    IN    THE  COUNTY 
EXPERIENCED   AND    RELIABLE   SERVICE 


W.  H.  GROGAN 

DEALER  IN 

,    GROCERIES  AND  FEEDSTUFF    | 

I  DRY  GOODS  AND  NOTIONS 

I  HONEST    WEIGHT    GUARANTEED 

j  STONEVILLE.  N.  C. 

J 


•<>^^»(>^^»<>4 


THIS  SPACE  BELONGS  TO 

H.  KOY  MARTIN 

A  very  busy  man 

[  But  always  glad  for  you  to  stop  in  to  sec  him  when  in  MAYODAN,  N.  C. 

He  runs  a  Jewelry  Store,  Optical  Parlor  and  a  Repair  Shop 

for  Watches  and  Jewelry — each  one  a  complete 

department,  with  eleven  years  experience 

satisfying  customers. 


STOKE 
IN 


posToFRCE  BUILDING      MayodaH,  N.  C.    j 

i 


I       Do  Your  Bit       1 

I  Help  Your  Uncle  Samuel  ) 

i  When  You  Can  | 

I  * 

j         Piedmont  Drug  Company         | 

i     "ON  THE  CORNER-ON  THE  SQUARE"  MADISON.  NORTH  CAROLINA    * 

»«>^^M>^^    ^^Mt^^    ^^     ^^    ^^    ^^^\^^  l^^Mk^^    ^^  i^^hf  ^^    .^^  >^^     ^^     ^^    ^^     ^^     ^^    •*♦ 


I     W.  G.  LINDSAY.  President  W.  R.  STOTZ,  Manager    ! 

i  Rockingham  Telephone  Company  j 

I  MADISON,  N.  C.  I 

I  i 

I     The  management  believes  the  development  of  our  section  depends  largely  upon    | 
I  closer  and  quicker  communication.      Farmers  are  invited  to  f 

I  connect  rural  lines  on  to  this  system.  | 

I  GET  IN  TOUCH  WITH  THE  WORLD         | 

0  z 

1  GILLIAM  GRISSOM.  President  M.  L.  HEINER.  Vice-President     | 

I 

I    BOULEVARD  BANK  AND  TRUST  CO.    | 

iP.  H.  GWYNN,  Cashier  •  ! 

I 

I  LEAKSVILLE,  NORTH  CAROLINA  | 

I  ! 

I       TDOULEVARD  BANK  AND  TRUST  CO.  invites  your  patronage  and  finds    | 
i     -^-'  pleasure  in  doing  business  with  you.     Four  Per  Cent  on  Time  Deposits.        I 

I 

I       T>OULEVARD  REAL  ESTA TE  CO.  will  buy  or  sell  your  property,  lend  you    [ 
I     -*-'  money  on  real  estate,  insure  your  home,  household  goods  or  merchandise.    | 

c  o 

I  1 

I      JDOULEVARD  BUILDING  AND  LOAN  ASSOCIATION  will  build  you    ! 
I     ■'-'  a  house  and  make  you  comfortable  and  happy.  1 

[  I 


M>^^(>^^()4 


SUNSET  FARM 

R.  F.  D. 
LFAKSVILLK.  N.  C. 


Registered 
and  High  Grade 


i   Y.  M.  C.A. 


!  i 

Guernsey  Cattle       \     \ 


SPRAY.  N.C. 

An  ideal  place  to  spend  your 

leisure  hours  when 

in  town 

Reading  Room,  Shower  Baths. 
Gymnasium,  Etc. 

RATES 
$3.00  per  Year    .SOc.  per  Month       | 


I 


I  i 

I  J.  H.  MOORE.  President          W.  C.  RUFFIN,  V.-Pre«dent         J.  O.  RAGSDALE,  Cashier  | 

I  THE  BANK  OF  MADISON  I 

!  MADISON.  N.  C.  I 

I  Capital  $20,000.00                     Surplus  and  Profits  $50,000.00  - 


Total  Resources  Over  Half 
Million  Dollars 

We  solicit  the  business  of  those  desiring  safe 
and  conservative  banking 


^<>-«i»(  >^^f  )-^^()^i»<>' 


J.  L.  LASHMIT 
SHOES 


THAT'S  ALL 


It  Pays  to  Pay  Cash 


WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C. 


•T»»^^4>^^<>^^<  >^^  <  >'« 


I 

I  ! 
I 

i    I 
i    ! 

i  I 

[     ! 


OUR  MOTTO 

**Have  What 

You  Want  When  You 

Want  it'* 

Variety  Store  Co. 

C.  p.  SMITH.  Maaifer 

LEAKSVILLE.  N.C. 


! 


WE  FURNISH  YOUR  HOME  COMPLETE 
WITH 

GOOD  FURNISHINGS 

J  FOR  LESS  MONEY  FOR  CASH 

I  We  give  ten  per  cent  discount  for  cash  on  all  purchases,  except  Vocalion  Talking 
I  Machines.  Our  goods  are  all  marked  in  plain  figures,  and  one  price  to  all  customers. 
I  Come  in  to  see  us  and  look  through  our  big  stock. 

We  will  welcome  you  just  the  same  if  you  buy  or  do  not  buy. 


BURTON-CHANCE- WALKER  CO. 

HOUSE-FURNISHINGS  AND  UNDERTAKING 
AGENTS  FOR  VOCALION  TALKING  MACHINES— THE  BEST  ONE  j 

Reidsville,  North  Carolina  I 


»0.«^<)«^U-^^<)'^^(>4i^0-^^(>«^f>^^(>^^MI^^()-^^()^^()'^^()-^^0-«^(>^l»Q4^0^^0^^0- 


Gorr ell's  Warehouse  1 


j         For  the  Sale  of  Leaf  Tobacco         | 

i  I 

I  Winston-Salem,  North  Carolina  \ 


I  We  GORRELLS  all  the  time  are  on  the  job  for  seUing  | 

!  tobacco  for  the  most  money.     We  operate  two  of  the  best  | 

I  houses,   "Gorrell's"  and  "Farmers,"   and  cordially  invite  j 

I  your  patronage.      Hoping  we  may  have  the  pleasure  of  [ 

i  selUng  for  you,  and  ■\\ith  assurance  of  our  best  efforts  and  j 

I  best  prices,  we  remain,         Your  friends,  i 

j  GORRELL  BROTHERS.  j 


<♦ 


The 

Greensboro  Daily  News 

Has  had  a  wonderful  growth  in  circulation! 
People  want  the  news! 

and  that's  whv  THE  DAILY  NKWS   is  spending  more  than  any  other  newspaper  in  _j 

North  Carolina  to  give  the  best  possible  news  services.     Full  Associated  Press,  the  | 

London  Times  Cable  service,  David  Lawrence's  daily  articles,  and  a  strong  Washing-  | 

ton  Bui-eau,  round  out  a  complete  service.  | 

The  subscription  rate  is  still  $7.00,  Daily  and  Sunday.    Write  for  sample.  f 

GREENSBORO  DAILY  NEWS,  Greensboro,  N.  C.  ! 


•<t^i»(I^^O^^<)^^<l4 


'    The  Best 'Quality  at  Lowest  Prices    i 

Is  Our  Motto 

Our  experience  enables  us  to  serve  you  to  your  best  advantage. 
Our  line  of  Watches.  Clocks,  Jewelry  and  Silverware  is  of  the 
highest  character.     Our  stock  is  the  largest  in  the  County. 
We  invite  your  inspection. 

C.  E.  PYRON 

JE-WELER 

REPAIRING  AND  ENGRAVING 

BOULEVARD  STREET,  SPRAY,  NORTH  CAROLINA 

PHONE  No.   257 


><I4^»-<I^^<M 


J.  S.  HILL  &  COMPANY 

DEALERS  IN 

I    Clothing  and  Gents''  Furnishings    I 

Everything  in  Men's,  Ladies'  and 
Children's  Readv-to-Wear 


Shoes  for  the  Whole  Family — High  Quali'y  and  Low  Price 
\       Phone  36  Boulevard  Street  Leaksvillc,  N.  C. 

t 


i 


»'l><^M>l><^»t*> 


J.  J.  VanNOPPEN 

DENTIST 

Over 
Bank  of  Spray 

SPRAY.  N.  C. 
House  Phone  156 


I    I 

I         i     Residence  Phone 

i    I 


223 


Office  Phone     j 
388  i 


I     I     Dr.  J.  ED.  WARREN    | 


I 

i   i 

I  ! 
I  I 

i 


DENTIST 
All  Kinds  of  Dental  Work 


I 


»(>•«■»  I  )'^i^04^»<  H 


MV^l»<)^^M)^i^(>-«i^O^^(>^^l  )^^l  I^^O^^I  »^i^>- 


1  I 


•(♦I«        ♦I»"« 


JUNIOR  BUILDING 
I     BOULEVARD  ST.     SPRAY,  N.  C.    | 


•  tt'^H^O-^^O' 


I 


»n^i»(>^^o4 


J.  W.  NORMAN, 
President 


T.  W.  DUNN, 
V  -President 


.  G.  C  GAMMON, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer 


Leaksville-Spray  Insurance 
and  Realty  Co, 


PIKE   INSUKANCE 


i 
i 

KEAL  ESTATE     I 


OFFICE:     PEOPLES  BANK  BUILDING 
TELEPHONE  No.  92 

LEAKSVILLE,  NOKTH  CAP^OLlNA 


f 


i^i^^o^H^o^^o^^o^^iym^fy^t^ty 


Boulevard 
Millinery  Co. 

DRY  GOODS 
and  NOTIONS 

BOULEVARD  ST.    SPRAY,  N.  C. 
We  Invite  Your  Patronage 


»n^i»4)^^O^i^4>^^r«>'« 


i  I 

i  I  W.  J.  Patterson 

i  I 

i  I 

i  I 

i  ) 

i  I 


General 
Merchandise 
and 
Furniture 


1        I     CHURCH  ST.         SPKAY.  N.  C. 
fVe  have  what  you  want 


i   I 


I   I 


» o«i»  n«i»-f  )«»-<)4 


RockingKam  Automobile  Company 


AUTOMOBILES  and  AUTOMOBILE  SUPPLIES 


AUTHORIZED  AGENTS 

FOR  THE  SALE  OF 

FORD  CARS 


MADISON,  NORTH  CAROLINA 


I  he  safety  of  your  deposits 

You  never  need  to  worry  about  the  safety 

of  your  money  when  deposited 

in  this  Bank 

This  institution  is  a  member  of  the  Federal  Reserve 
System  and  all  its  affairs  are  under  the  supervision  of 
the  United  States  Government. 

Consequently,  depositors  are  safeguarded  in  every  pos- 
sible respect  and  our  methods  of  doing  business  are 
along  safe,  conservative  lines. 

We  welcome  small  as  well  as  large  deposits  and  pay 
four  per  cent  interest  compounded  Quarterly  on  deposits 
in  our  savings  department. 

AMERICAN  EXCHANGE  NATIONAL  BANK 

GREENSBORO,  N.  C. 
Cafsital  $400,000.00 


6 


A-.- 


When  You  Sell  Your 
Tobacco  at 

I  Piedmont  Warehouse  | 

I  WINSTON 

I  It  has  the  careful  and  best  attention 

!  of  the 

NORFLEET  BOYS 

i  j 

I  Who  have  spent  a  lifetime  in  the  >varehouse  business  i 

I  This  means  extra  money 

I  in  your  pocket 

[___ ^ I 

I  BUY  I 

I  THE  CLOTHES 

I  THAT  ARE  i 

j  Three  in  One  1 

I        Stylish,  Durable  and  Pleasing  | 

I     WILLIAMS  &  CO.        Reidsville,  N.  C.     | 

I  I 

! 
! 
I 

! 

i  [ 

i  [ 


♦i»>.. 


,o^m-a'^^y^m<i.^o-mm^>^mO't^^^^o'^0'mm-o^m-o^mi>^m<i-am<y^t)^^o-^o-^o*m^n^m-n^m-n»J 


.:.  .T. 


I  I 


»o^M>i><^»t*T<l 


BOULEVARD  i    i  BOULEVARD 


5c,  10c,  25c 
STORE 

LEAKSVILLE,  N.  C. 

"On  the  Boulevard" 


1 1 
i 

i  i 
i  j 
i   t 


The HomeofVarietyGoods    I 

The  Flace  Where  You  Save  Money     j 


i    I 


if^t-^^ii-^m-ix 


»0«^1)'^^{>^^0^^(>^i»()^H»(>^4  *>)< 


THEATRE 

LEAKSVILLE,  N.  C. 

"On  the  Boulevard" 

The  Home  of  Hifih-class 
Photo-Plays 

Matinee  and  Nights 
All  Day  on  Holidays 


»%[>^M»0«^»il^^»<l^^»<>^B»<>^i»<l4 


j 


I    THE  GAZETTE    I 
OBSERVER 

BOX  344 

LEAKSVILLE,  N.  C. 


I    I  I 

i  PRATT  BROS.  I 


Highest  Grade 
Job  Printing 


i  i 
i  ( 
i  ) 
i  i 
i  ) 
i  i 
i  i 
i  i 
I   i 


Madison,  N.  C. 
Best  Line  of 

HARDWARE 

Farm  Implements 
Coffins 

See  Us  if  You  Want  the  Best 


•  c)  4^»<>^^»'<>^^»'(r*«* 


^<)'41»  O'^l^  c>  ^^»<  M 


K« )  4i»(  I  ^^1  >^^o^^o«^  n  •« 


k'O^Hfr'i  l-^^O^^O  4 


I 


»^0«^()^^<) 


C.H.  SCALES 

MADISON,  N.  C. 

FANCY  GROCERIES,  FEED 

and  FARM  SUPPLIES 


The  Store  with  a  Conscience 


^U-^^(>4H»u« 


s 

McGEHEE  COMPANY  I 

MADISON,  N.  C.  1 

DRY  GOODS      NOTIONS     MILLINERY        ! 
CLOTHING  SHOES  I 

THE  BEST,  BUT  CHEAPEST  \ 


\  McGEHEE  COMPANY 

f  MADISON,  N.  C. 

I 


i 


I  PENN  HARDWARE  AND  FURNITURE  CO.  j 

J  MADISON,  N.  C.  j 

!  j 

I  Dealers  in  Paints,  Oils,  Building  Materials  | 

f  Hardware,  Furniture,  Undertakers  \ 

j  Farm  Implements  | 

1 

I  WAGONS  AND  BUGGIES  j 

I  '  j 


I  I 

I  Jas.  M.  Vaughn,  Pres.            T.  D.  Meadeb,  Vice-Pres.          J.  C.  Thompson,  Cashier  | 

I  Farmers  Bank  and  Trust  Co.  j 

I  MADISON,  N.  C.  j 

I  Capital  Stock,  $15,000.00  | 

I  We  Pay  Four  Per  Cent,  Compounded  Quarterly  j 

I  You  are  cordially  invited  to  open  an  I 

account  with  us  || 

\  ^  i 


c; 


A^r 


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